Ray Rice: 'I'm Done With Football'
Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice said that in speaking out against domestic violence, he is not doing it to get back into the NFL.
"Well, see that for me, is something that I understand why it was being said early on about, you know, is this a ploy to get back into football," Rice told "CBS This Morning" during an interview Tuesday. "I'll be the first one to say it. I don't have to retire to tell you I'm done with football. The pressure I was under of being a star that was the person I hated the most."
In February 2014, Rice was seen on video dragging his then-fiancée, Janay, out of a casino elevator. Another video showed Rice punched her and knocked her unconscious. He was later released by the Ravens prior to the start of the season after being handed an indefinite suspension by the NFL.
Rice, 31, has not played in an NFL game since 2013. When he sees the tape of the incident now, Rice said that he hates who he was.
"Somewhere down the line everybody who's sayin', 'Does he deserve a second chance for football?' And this that and the other–I actually got my second chance."
The second chance Rice referred to was with Janay. The two were married weeks after the incident in 2014 and have two sons together.
"During my darkest moments, and I used to ask myself, 'How could she even be–want to support me?" Rice said. "That's understandable. But I think what's misunderstood about us is that the friends we were before the incident."
Rice also discussed the situation surrounding former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, who was released earlier this season and placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List after video surfaced of him being involved in an altercation with a woman in February.
Rice told CBS that he hasn't spoken to Hunt, but is open to doing so.
"I would love to help anyone that's willing to go the long haul," Rice said.
