If anyone can sympathize with the mixed emotions that can come with tough career choices as a professional athlete, it’s Ricky Williams.
So it’s no surprise that Williams, the former Miami Dolphins RB1, is supportive of the decision made by Tua Tagovailoa, the current Miami Dolphins QB1, to resume his career after suffering his fourth diagnosed concussion last month.
Ricky Williams Talks Tua Tagovailoa
Williams famously took a sabbatical from football during his prime due to the toll the game had taken on him mentally. (He also faced a lengthy suspension due to multiple failed drug tests.)
But Williams’ first retirement wasn’t permanent, and he came back and played parts or all of five more seasons to finish second behind just Larry Csonka on the franchise’s all-time rushing list (6,436).
So there was no one with a better perspective than Williams of what Tagovailoa — who has been encouraged by a bunch of current players (including Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce) to retire after his latest brain injury — has gone through over the last seven weeks.
Appearing on the OGs Podcast with former Miami Heat stars Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, Williams defended Tagovailoa’s decision to resume his career.
Here are Williams’ thoughts in full:
“From the outside, I’d say you have to take care of yourself. From the inside, if that was me, I’d be even more driven to get back on the field. I ain’t going out like that.
“But I think that’s the difficulty but also the beauty of this kind of level of competition. It’s ride or die. It’s real.
“To me, any professional sport, but especially football, it’s not for everybody. It’s a certain kind of mentality that makes you good at sports, and it’s the same kind of mentality when you have the choice to do something that’s good for your health or do something that’s good for competition, we’re going to choose to do something that makes us competitors.
“We’re warriors. It’s like the Vikings. They say that we’re going to die, we go to Heaven if we die on the battlefield. But if we’re cowards, we go to Hell. That’s football mentality. Again, from the outside, take care of yourself. But from the inside, I get it.”
Truth is, Tua did take care of himself.
During his five-week stint on injured reserve, Tagovailoa met with a number of the nation’s experts on concussions. None suggested he retire. He was given assurances that he could safely resume his career after enough time had passed.
And last week, he did, playing well in the Dolphins’ 28-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
When asked in the leadup to that game what he would say to those many fans and peers who are worried about his health, Tua replied:
“I appreciate your concern, I really do. I love this game and I love it to the death of me, that’s it.”