Ricky Williams has done a lot of things and seen a lot, and it started right as he got into the National Football League.
In an interview with Mackenzie Salmon on USA Today’s weekly show Sports Seriously, the former running back shared two stories from his career that revealed how NFL players used marijuana to deal with pain management.
The first story came from when he was a young rookie in the league and a hall of fame player on the Saints shocked him with his drug use.
“I played a long time ago and I played for a long time. So things have changed a lot when I first got into the league.
My rookie year, a Hall of Fame player on the team, he’s in the Hall of Fame now, invited me over to his house and he gave me the speech about how to take care of yourself in the NFL. And he pulled out some cannabis, crushed it up, split a blunt, opened it up, put the cannabis in there, took a Vicodin, crushed it up, sprinkled the Vico in there, rolled up the blunt and passed it to me. That was a vet, teaching me as a rookie, how to take care of myself in the NFL.”
Williams then spoke on the end of his career:
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“My last year in the NFL, I was playing for the Ravens. And one point we were in the playoffs and I was leaving the facility and there were guys coming in with a plate full of ‘brownies.’ They [were] going to go watch film, so yeah…
And now, because it’s more legal, it’s to the point, why wouldn’t you [use it] if you’re in the NFL?”
Williams’ rookie year was in 1999 with the New Orleans Saints and his last year in the league was in 2011 with the Baltimore Ravens.
It wasn’t until the new CBA was reached in 2020 that the NFL eased its policies on players’ cannabis usage.
Williams had 2,431 carries for 10,009 yards, 342 catches for 2,606 yards, and scored 74 touchdowns. He was selected to play in 1 Pro Bowl.
