Ricky Williams Is The Rare NFL Player Who Wished He Played For Cleveland

In 1999, the New Orleans Saints gave up everything for Ricky Williams.

No, really. Then-head coach Mike Ditka knew the Heisman Trophy-winning running back wouldn't fall to them at No. 12. So he traded all six of the Saints' draft picks to the Washington Redskins in order to snag Williams at No. 5.

Appearing on OutKick's Don't @ Me Monday, Williams told Dan Dakich that he felt his teammates harbored some resentment for him over the deal.

"I mean, it wasn't like in the movies where someone took me under their wing. Everyone was... I was kind of at a distance," Williams said. "Because, at least that first year, I was making more money than pretty much everyone on the team, and I hadn't done anything in the NFL. So I can understand."

He really wasn't making that much money, though. In fact, Williams' rookie contract is widely considered one of the worst for any player in NFL history.

The former Texas Longhorn agreed to an $8.8 million signing bonus and a minimum base salary (totaling only $2.3 million over seven years). Everything else would get paid out by meeting performance incentives.

And he didn't meet those performance incentives.

New Orleans finished with a 3–13 record that first year, and Williams struggled as a rookie — resulting in the firing of both Ditka and GM Bill Kuharich.

Ricky Williams Turns Over A New Leaf

In 2002, the Miami Dolphins traded two first-round draft picks and more to get Williams from the Saints. They hoped he would become the face of the franchise and a workhorse on offense.

And he was – for a little while. "Run Ricky Run!" was the mantra in South Florida, and he went on to become an All-Pro and the NFL Rushing Yards Leader in 2002.

And, well, you know the story after that.

While Ricky Williams doesn't seem to have any regrets about the way things played out, he did tell Dakich he would have preferred not to start his career with the Saints. Rather, he wanted to go to a team with a more "winning tradition."

"I think it's cool that they traded their whole draft, but I would have much rather been the first pick and gone to the Browns," he said.

Winning tradition? The Cleveland Browns? Ricky, are you high?

Wait...

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