Next issue for Ricky Williams? His official starting date for camp
BY JASON COLE
Knight Ridder Newspapers
MIAMI - (KRT) - Ricky Williams will formally apply for reinstatement to the NFL and likely will get a small break from the league so he can return to the Dolphins in time for training camp.
But getting any break on a four-game suspension looks unlikely.
Agent Leigh Steinberg said earlier this week he will ask the league to reinstate Williams on July 23, which would allow Williams to report to the Dolphins on time for the start of training camp July 24. Steinberg said he believes July 23 is the date when Williams retired.
"That's the date that we are going with based on when Ricky first said he was going to retire and told former Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt," Steinberg said.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello has said several times the NFL considers July 27 the date Williams officially retired. However, another league source said,
"There are so many dates in this case you pretty much have your pick of them."
Given that and the fact Williams will reenter the NFL's drug testing program sooner than required, the league source indicated Williams likely will be allowed to start training camp on time.
As for the four-game suspension and four-week fine Williams faces once the season begins, Steinberg and other representatives for Williams hope the league will reduce the length of his suspension to perhaps one or two games.
The league, however, indicated there is no chance of that happening. "We have to treat all the players the same," the league source said.
Williams' representatives might argue that Williams started using marijuana again toward the end of the 2003 season after having an adverse reaction when he stopped taking Paxil, a medication to help with his social anxiety disorder. Williams took Paxil during at least his first season with the Dolphins and was a spokesman for the company for a time.
However, he eventually stopped taking the medication during his second season with the Dolphins. In December 2003, Williams tested positive for marijuana after going nearly two years without a positive test, and he tested positive again last summer. But Williams also has often said he took masking agents to hide his marijuana use.
BY JASON COLE
Knight Ridder Newspapers
MIAMI - (KRT) - Ricky Williams will formally apply for reinstatement to the NFL and likely will get a small break from the league so he can return to the Dolphins in time for training camp.
But getting any break on a four-game suspension looks unlikely.
Agent Leigh Steinberg said earlier this week he will ask the league to reinstate Williams on July 23, which would allow Williams to report to the Dolphins on time for the start of training camp July 24. Steinberg said he believes July 23 is the date when Williams retired.
"That's the date that we are going with based on when Ricky first said he was going to retire and told former Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt," Steinberg said.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello has said several times the NFL considers July 27 the date Williams officially retired. However, another league source said,
"There are so many dates in this case you pretty much have your pick of them."
Given that and the fact Williams will reenter the NFL's drug testing program sooner than required, the league source indicated Williams likely will be allowed to start training camp on time.
As for the four-game suspension and four-week fine Williams faces once the season begins, Steinberg and other representatives for Williams hope the league will reduce the length of his suspension to perhaps one or two games.
The league, however, indicated there is no chance of that happening. "We have to treat all the players the same," the league source said.
Williams' representatives might argue that Williams started using marijuana again toward the end of the 2003 season after having an adverse reaction when he stopped taking Paxil, a medication to help with his social anxiety disorder. Williams took Paxil during at least his first season with the Dolphins and was a spokesman for the company for a time.
However, he eventually stopped taking the medication during his second season with the Dolphins. In December 2003, Williams tested positive for marijuana after going nearly two years without a positive test, and he tested positive again last summer. But Williams also has often said he took masking agents to hide his marijuana use.