Ricky Williams: I retired in 2004 due to Dolphins' bad quarterbacks

Former NFL running back Ricky Williams said he retired at the start of the 2004 season while playing for the Miami Dolphins because of bad quarterback play.

Williams made the comments in an episode of the NFL Network's “A Football Life,” scheduled to air on Friday.

In 2004, A.J. Feeley started eight games for the Dolphins, winning three of his eight starts, Jay Fiedler started seven games, winning once and Sage Rosenfels lost his only start that season.

Miami finished 4-12 in 2004 after winning 10 games the season before, with Fiedler, Rosenfels and Brian Griese under center. Those three quarterbacks combined to throw 17 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in 2003.

"I led the NFL in attempts the past two years and they really didn't go out and get a quarterback to help me, so I knew it's going to be all on me again," Williams said.

The two seasons Williams are referring to are the 2002 and 2003 campaigns. In 2002, he rushed 383 times for an NFL-high 1,853 yards and the next season he ran 392 times for 1,372 yards.

"I could see my mortality as a football player, that I'm not going to be able to do this much longer,” Williams said. “It just became obvious to me that playing football for me is not going to be fun, not something I'm going to enjoy and it's time for me to do something different."

Williams returned to the Dolphins in 2005 after paying back a portion of his signing bonus and finishing his four-game ban for failing a drug test. He was also suspended for the entire 2006 season after failing another drug test.

Williams ended his career in 2011 with 10,009 rushing yards and 66 touchdowns in 10 seasons with Miami, the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens.

- Scooby Axson