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Ray Rice: 'I could understand why some people would never forgive me'

Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Ray Rice isn't giving up on his NFL future.

Despite being released by the Baltimore Ravens last season after a video of Rice surfaced showing him punching his then-fiancee Janay Palmer, the free-agent running back feels he's been rehabilitated.

"I treated this year, for me being out, as an injury year except for it wasn't physical - it was mental," he told ESPN. "It was everything about rehabilitating myself to be the best husband, father, and go out there and share my story. I'm not afraid to say right now that I feel like I'm a rehabilitated man. I took this year as an injury mentally. Mentally, I just went through a lot."

Rice has some supporters in his quest to resume his career. A domestic violence prevention group recently voiced its support towards Rice for a second chance.

"I can understand some people probably never will forgive my actions," he said. "But I think that every step that I took going forward right now - over time, I want to be able to rewrite the script, to tell my daughter that daddy made the worst decision of his life, but this is what I did going forward."

The 28-year-old knows, though, that no matter what he does, he may never get another opportunity in the NFL.

"We do live in a society where public opinion matters, and I totally respect that," Rice said. "Domestic violence is real. It happens every 12 seconds as we speak. I think that that issue alone with me in my situation, having the video - that puts a lot in perspective. That vivid memory, obviously, that was the worst decision I've ever made in my life.

"To the survivors of domestic violence, I understand how real it is, and I don't want to ever take that for granted because this is a real issue in our society. My video put the light out there - if you have never seen what domestic violence looks like and you look at my video, I could understand why some people would never forgive me."

Still, Rice has had discussions with teams and he hopes at some point he will receive an opportunity to return to the field.

"The conversations that I had with them is more to understand the magnitude of my situation," he said. "I know that it's a unique deal, so I just try to honestly live day-to-day and stay hopeful for that opportunity."

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