Bastiat's Bastions

Ricky Williams has been resurgent in the 2009 NFL season. Amidst an era of short-lived and disposable running backs, the 32 year old Miami Dolphins has averaged an astounding 5.1 yards per carry over the first 11 games of the season. Meanwhile, time, injury, and wear have reduced recent greats such as Ladainian Tomlinson (30 years old, 3.4 yards per carry) and Edgerrin James (31 years old, 2.7 yards per carry) to marginal starting backs. Williams is an exception to the rule that NFL running backs age more like bananas than wine. In fact, Williams’ nearly unprecedented renaissance at the running back position may suggest a lesson somewhere in his meandering, controversial, and ambivalent football career. Most running backs who make a career in the NFL get hit, frequently and with large amounts of force, season after season. Such players often develop injuries that heal only partially during the off-season such that they are less than 100 percent at the beginning of the next season. The partial healing of an original injury only reinforces the player’s exposure to wear and tear, as he becomes slower, less powerful, and easier to hit. Thus the washed up, 30 year old running back as a rule.

Why, then, has Ricky Williams shown an ability to defy the rule? Essentially, he followed his own path. Williams removed himself, more or less, from professional football on two occasions and for a total of almost three seasons. His chief objective in doing so was to smoke copious amounts of marijuana. However, Williams’ path had the unintended consequence of allowing him not one but two separate recuperative periods during his professional career. This outcome may have broken the reinforcing cycle of wear that so many backs experience. Will Ricky Williams get more from his career by having taken breaks from the action? It is impossible to know the answer to such a question. However, we can be reasonably confident, by comparing him to similar players, that he is a better 32 year old running back for having done so. It is at least interesting to consider that Williams’ model—at least the legal parts of it— may be beneficial to a young NFL running back in need of longer-term healing. 

-SS