Revisiting the Ricky Williams Trade on Anniversary

Ricky Williams joined the Miami Dolphins via one of the biggest trades in franchise history, and it happened 24 years ago to the day.

In honor of this anniversary, we look back at the trade, its impact, the lessons learned, how it compares to another recent March trade (the one for wide receiver Tyreek Hill four years ago), and where it stands among the biggest deals in team history.

THE PARTICULARS OF THE TRADE

On March 8, 2002, the Dolphins sent a first-round pick in the 2002 draft and a conditional 2023 third-round pick that became a first-rounder, with a swap of fourth-round selections.

The conditional pick became a first-rounder after Williams led the NFL with a franchise-record 1,853 yards in 2002.

With the 2002 first-round pick, the Saints selected DE Charles Grant and later traded the 2003 first-rounder to Arizona to move up to number 6 overall and take DT Johnathan Sullivan.

With the fourth-round pick they got from the Saints in 2002, the Dolphins selected TE Randy McMichael. The Saints used the Dolphins' fourth-round pick on DB Keyuo Craver.

WILLIAMS' PLACE IN DOLPHINS HISTORY

After his record-breaking 2002 season, Williams produced the second-best rushing season in team history in 2003 with 1,372 yards.

Unfortunately, that production wasn't enough to help the Dolphins get to the playoffs either season, though the team did finish with a winning record both times, 9-7 in 2002 and 10-6 in 2003.

Of course, things went south in 2004 when Williams abruptly retired before the start of training camp while staring at an NFL suspension and it was stop-and-start with the Dolphins until his final season with the team in 2010.

Williams did help the Dolphins win the AFC East title in 2008 when he was a key component in the Wildcat-based offense with fellow running back Ronnie Brown and he did have a third 1,000-yard rushing season with 1,121 yards in 2009, and he did become the team's second-leading all-time rusher behind only Hall of Famer Larry Csonka.

Williams probably was the most gifted running back the team has ever employed, thanks to his unique combination of size, physicality and vision, but unfortunately any talk of his career always will be accompanied by questions about how much more he could have accomplished.

THE LESSONS LEARNED

In a sense, there are a lot of similarities between Williams and Tyreek Hill, who the Dolphins aquired in another massive March trade, that one 20 years later in 2022.

As was the case with Williams, the Dolphins made Hill the focus of the offense and the statistical results were great the first two seasons.

While Hill didn't leave the team before his third season, his production wasn't there and the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time with him on the roster. With Williams, the third season after he was acquired resulted in the team's first losing season after the trade.

The Dolphins sacrificed a lot of draft capital in both trades and got immediate returns, though it didn't lead to the kind of success the team had envisioned in either case.

And in Hill's case, the Dolphins moved on after he missed most of the 2025 season with a severe knee injury, which came less than a year ago after the team's odd decision to guarantee him more money when he was under contract for two more years.

Having said all that, it's difficult to look at the Ricky Williams trade — or the Tyreek Hill trade, for that matter — and say it was a bad move because of how good he was after coming to Miami. It's just that it could have worked out better.

WHERE THE WILLIAMS TRADE RANKS IN FRANCHISE HISTORY

In terms of significance, it's really difficult to overstate the Williams trade. But where does it rank among the biggest deals in franchise history.

For bookkeeping purposes, we're not including the Dolphins sending the Baltimore Colts a first-round pick after hiring Don Shula as head coach because this is a players-only list and, besides, it wasn't a trade per se but rather the NFL mandating that Miami give up that draft pick after the Colts accused them of tampering.

So on with the list of the five biggest trades:

1. The Tunsil Trade — 2019

T Laremy Tunsil, WR Kenny Stills, a 4th-round pick and a 6th-round pick to the Houston Texans for DB Johnson Bademosi, T Julien Davenport, two 1st-round picks and a 3rd-round pick

2. The Ricky Deal — 2002

RB Ricky Williams and a 4th-round pick from the New Orleans Saints for two 1st-round picks and a 4th-round selection

3. The Tyreek Trade — 2022

WR Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs for a 2022 1st, 2nd and 4th and a 2023 4th and 6th