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Ricky Williams: 'It's kind of true' that I quit football to smoke weed

Joe Robbins / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Ricky Williams shocked the sports world by announcing his retirement just as he was entering his prime back in 2004.

The former Miami Dolphins running back, who was facing a suspension for marijuana use when he initially opted to walk away from football, admitted in an upcoming Sports Illustrated film that weed did indeed play a factor in his decision.

"It's kind of true, but not the way that people see it, that I quit football to go smoke weed," Williams explains in the feature set to publish July 13.

Williams would stay retired for just one year before returning to the field in 2005. The previous failed test required that he serve a four-game ban upon doing so, though, and another violation forced him to sit out both the entire 2006 season and the first nine games of 2007.

A season-ending injury suffered in his return to the field immediately sent him back to the sidelines, but Williams did go on to put together another four years of solid production.

Still, the two years of dominance with the Dolphins prior to his first retirement will always leave football fans wondering what Williams could have done with an uninterrupted career.

Williams racked up 775 carries for 3,225 yards and 25 touchdowns from 2002-2003 after landing in Miami via a trade from the New Orleans Saints. His 1,853-yard performance in 2002, just 252 yards short of the single-season record, earned the former Texas standout his first and only Pro Bowl nod.

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