Ricky Williams says a text from Bill Parcells convinced him to retire

We have seen this act before. Ricky Williams announces his retirement, follows Lenny Kravitz around the world for a few months, and then returns to the NFL and remains relatively productive. Williams announced his retirement once again on Tuesday, but there are still plenty of people who believe he will change his mind. He was a successful complement to Ray Rice in the Ravens running game this season and still has a year remaining on his contract, but Ricky says a conversation with Bill Parcells resulted in his decision to call it quits.

“I was really excited to express to (Parcells) how excited I was about football and about the way the season ended and how much I was looking forward to coming back, and his reply kind of shook me a little bit,” Williams said in an interview with WQAM in Miami that the L.A. Times passed along. “He said, well, that’s good to hear, he said, you know, don’t chase this thing too long. You can contribute in other ways.”

Apparently that was all Williams needed to hear. He said the text from Parcells coupled with a conversation the two of them had years back with the Dolphins helped him make up his mind.

“I allowed myself to think if I could be doing anything in the world, what would I be doing?” Williams explained. “And what came to mind is I’d be travelling a little bit, I’d be going to classes and I’d be going back to school. So I weighed what is it going to feel like to be on a football field next year and what is it going to feel like doing the things I want to do , and it just felt lighter, more expansive to be doing the things I want to do.”

Don’t be surprised if Ricky gets the itch to come back after he hops on a couple of flights to various countries and takes a night class or two. As for how it stands at the moment, John Harbaugh can thank Parcells for his temporary lack of backfield depth.