Wait, Ricky Has to Pay Back the $8.1 Million He Got From Miami Right Before He Retired?

I know Daunte Culpepper was a big believer in self-representation, eschewing the whole agent thing and choosing to deal directly with the front-office types when it came to negotiation contracts and whatnot. Ricky Williams has an agent, but chose not to consult him before hurriedly signing a one-year extension with the Dolphins just before the start of the season.

Good news: he was slated to make $730,000 this season, but barring injury, it'll likely be closer to $2.2 million. And next year it'll go up to $3.3 million.

Bad news: Miami still wants the $8.1 million they gave Williams before he up and sorta retired in 2004.

Really-hard-to-take-seriously news: Williams just figured the team didn't care about that money once he signed his new deal. You know, because ... um, I got nothin'.

Ricky Williams said the $8.1 million he owes the Dolphins from his sudden retirement in 2004 wasn't brought up in his recent negotiation for a one-year extension. And that, he figures, was for a reason.

"I assume I'm not going to have to pay it,'' he said. That was his read of it not being brought up? "Yes,'' he said.

Asked why he thought it would be forgiven, he mentioned the new regime led by Bill Parcells. "I assume they want to keep me happy,'' he said last Friday, before a source said the Dolphins hadn't forgiven Williams of the money.

Funny thing about new regimes: they don't wipe the books clean every time there's a new Commissar of Football Operations/GM/President, because if they did, Vinny Cerrato would get canned every other year (which, I suppose, is 50 percent better than having him around all the time).

As was pointed out yesterday, it probably would've made sense for Williams to bring that up before he signed the extension. I'm sure he and Parcells had something -- a moment, if you will -- in that conference room, but, well, it's $8.1 million.