We're going to miss Ricky Williams, who announced his retirement from the NFL yesterday. The Ravens running back - he's one of only 26 players ever to rush for more than 1,000 yards - was suspended by the league for marijuana use four times and initially retired in 2004.

Below are excerpts from CelebStoner posts about Williams:

The Ricky Williams Rundown (5/13/07)

Suspended for failing a drug test for the fourth time, the NFL banned Williams from playing the 2007 season. In his application for reinstatement, he claimed he hadn't smoked marijuana in three years and had replaced pot with yoga.

"He’s told me that his interest in eastern philosophy has overcome his desire for mind-altering substances and has given him another outlet," agent Leah Steinberg stated.

Williams had been living on a yoga farm in Grass Valley, California. Last year, he played in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts.

He was the fifth player selected in the 1999 draft by the New Orleans Saints, who traded him to the Miami Dolphins in 2002, the year he led the NFL in rushing with 1,853 yards. The then dreadlocked running back began failing drug tests and, facing suspension, retired in 2004. Williams traveled to Australia and India, where he began practicing yoga. He returned to the Dolphins in 2005, playing 12 games and gaining 743 yards. He was suspended on April 25, 2006 after failing his fourth drug test.

Williams, whose spiritual name is Rudra, has said: "Life is like a river and has to keep flowing and to keep going somewhere. If you just find something you're comfortable with and sit, then you become like stagnant water with a bunch of mosquitoes... I've made decisions that have upset people, but I can't say I've ever messed up because if I'd have done one thing differently, the tiniest thing differently, I wouldn't be where I am today."

NFL Drug-Testing Ricky Williams Nine Times a Month (9/30/08)

The NFL wasn't taking any chances with Dolphins' stoner running back Ricky Williams, who returned to the league in 2008 after a year-long suspension for failing his fourth drug test for marijuana. He was randomly tested for drugs twice a week, sometimes before dawn.

"I'm used to it," says Williams. "It's just part of my life. I've been in the program since 2002. For the first couple of years I was more worried about how I could beat the test.... [Now] there's no space, no wiggle room for me. I've been good... [But] I'd be lying if I said I never was going to do it again after I'm done."

Ricky Williams on a Roll (10/13/09)

In his second season back in the NFL after a marijuana-related suspension, Miami's Ricky Williams is a force again. The 32-year-old running back has 11 touchdowns. He's rushed for 975 yards through the first 13 games and is en route to his first 1,000-yard rushing season since 2003.

Sans his trademark dreads, Williams returned to the Dolphins in 2008. In the off-season, he signed a one-year contract extension (through 2010) for $4.35 million.

Run Ricky Run (5/5/10)

Finally, we know what makes Ricky Williams tick. Sam Pamphilon and Royce Toni's ESPN doc Run Ricky Run chronicles the former Heisman Trophy winner's rise to fame, his fascination with marijuana, possible child abuse at the hands of his father and redemptive comeback.

Drafted by the Saints out of Texas in 1999 and traded to Miami, Williams led the league in rushing in 2002. Then he started failing drug tests. Rather than face a four-game suspension, Williams decided to forgo the the 2004 season altogether and went to Australia. By then he was smoking pot every day.

"The reason I smoked was to get myself some psychotherapy," he tells Pamphilon. "To go deeper into myself, really try to figure things out."

Williams first smoked weed in high school in San Diego. "I knew I was never going to be a big smoker," he says. "Smoked a couple of times in college. But I never bought it - until I got to New Orleans... I became a smoker for three years."

Eventually, Williams stopped smoking pot and returned to the Dolphins after the NFL suspended him for the 2006 season. Now he believes he abused marijuana ("I was smoking too much").

"I used marijuana to deal with my imperfections," explains the philosophical footballer. "And it was illegal. But I still don't identify with being an addict... I don't even take pain medications. I'll never try cocaine or any hard drugs."

Ravens Sign Ricky Williams (8/11/11)

The controversial running back, who was suspended by the NFL in 2006 for failing multiple drugs tests, will suit up with the Baltimore Ravens this season.

"It’s just a mirror of my maturity," Williams says about his life as a professional athlete. "I think we all go through phases. I think at my heart I’m a rebel, and I think I’ve found more productive and mature ways to express my rebellion."

Since returning to the gridiron, Williams had three productive years with Miami, who re-signed him in 2008 after he missed the 2004, 2006 and 2007 seasons. Williams admitted then to using marijuana, but hasn't failed a drug test since 2006.

Should Ricky Williams Make the Hall of Fame?

Williams ran for 444 yards and two TDs in his only season with the Ravens, who lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. He reached the 10,000-yard threshold in the final game of the season. Williams' 10,009 yards total is worthy of Pro Football Hall of Fame consideration. Many running backs in the Hall, such as Earl Campbell, Larry Csonka, Jim Taylor and Floyd Little, never hit that hallowed rushing mark.

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The All-NFL Drug Bust Team
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