Dolphins Give Ricky a 1 Year Extension.
Written by Dave Blake   
Sunday, 31 August 2008
When I heard this from ESPN I nearly fell out of my chair in surprise. Would I like to have Ricky around for another year? As long as we have Ronnie Brown I would be out of my mind not to want to have a Ricky/Ronnie duo in our backfield. Any team that relies on Ricky as their sole source of backfield production would need a CAT Scan as he is unpredictable and unreliable. When Ricky is focused on football he is one of the best in the game. Not only in production but he's a leader by example. One positive about Ricky is that he seems to be more stable the past year and maybe it's because of his holistic medicine regiment. Maybe it's because he's been staying away from the press and there are no "roll your eyes" quotes coming out of left field. Who knows.


A couple of reasons why I was surprised that Ricky would sign a 1 year contract extension is because we all know that he wants to play on the West Coast and needs a big pay day. California is his home and where he practices holistic medicine. So, why would he possibly sign an extension to play for team across the entire continent rather than be at home? First off, the Dolphins reworked his contract for this year making it easy for him to reach incentives that will pay him much more than his $730K 2008 contract. We all know that a player of Ricky talent is worth much more than that. Another thing is that all the California teams seem set with good backs right now. Another year in Miami will not ruin Ricky's career.

One smart thing that the Dolphins did was to give Ricky an extension lacking any kind of a signing bonus. He has to put it on the field to earn the money. After watching Ricky sign that rookie contract based on production years ago you have to understand that Ricky is still Ricky. On one hand he's all heart and feels that he should put it on the field to be paid. On the other hand could it be that he has not learned from his past? My guess is that his agent saw that what the Dolphins were offering Ricky for the next two years was good money and he may not get the same offer anywhere else. After all, Ricky has a much publicized past that is hard to forget.

I am a Ricky fan. As I've told you all, I've met him, been in his house, danced with his mom, pet his dog, and watched his son run around buck naked around his house. He's odd, but he's also genuine. His ADHD issues do make his thoughts go from one thing to the next, and has kept him from learning from his past mistakes, but perhaps his holistic practice will allow discipline to his mind. Right now he is focused on football, getting a holistic college degree, and supporting his children. Good luck to him.

So, get ready for the Ricky jokes. Something tells me that Ricky is going to silence the laughter this year. Of course, you know that I will be cautiously hopeful of it, because we all think we know Ricky.

 

I created this screen saver back in 2004. It was actually the flash on Ricky's "Run Ricky Run"web page. Enjoy!

RUN RICKY RUN

Run Ricky Run Screen Saver