Former NFL star Ricky Williams shed light on what was happening behind the scenes in the league as guys self-medicated to help diminish the pain they felt from playing football.
Williams, who played for the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens before calling it a career, was suspended for violating the league’s substance abuse policy multiple times for testing positive for marijuana.
On Monday, he told USA Today’s "Sports Seriously" show what other guys were doing to treat themselves.
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12 Sep 1999: Ricky Williams, #34 of the New Orleans Saints, sits on sidelines September 12, 1999 during the game against the Carolina Panthers at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints defeated the Panthers 19-10. (Elsa Hasch /Allsport)
"I played a long time ago, and I played for a long time. So things have changed a lot when I first got into the league," Williams said.
"My rookie year, a Hall of Fame player on the team, he’s in the Hall of Fame now, invited me over to his house and he gave me the speech about how to take care of yourself in the NFL. And he pulled out some cannabis, crushed it up, split a blunt, opened it up, put the cannabis in there, took a Vicodin, crushed it up, sprinkled the Vico in there, rolled up the blunt and passed it to me. That was a vet, teaching me as a rookie, how to take care of myself in the NFL."
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Ricky Williams, #34 of the New Orleans Saints, carries the ball and gets tackled by Will Allen, #25 of the New York Giants, during an NFL football game September 30, 2001 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Williams played for the Saints from 1999-2001. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
Williams entered the league in 1999 after the Saints took him No. 5 overall and gave up to the then-Washington Redskins several picks to move up to get him.
It was not clear who Williams was talking about in that story. He told another one about his final year in the NFL when he was with the Ravens.
"My last year in the NFL, I was playing for the Ravens. And one point we were in the playoffs, and I was leaving the facility and there were guys coming in with a plate full of ‘brownies,’" he said. "They [were] going to go watch film, so yeah…
"And now, because it’s more legal, it’s to the point, why wouldn’t you [use it] if you’re in the NFL?"
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, #34, during the NFL regular season game between the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA. (Getty Images)
Williams now owns his own brand of marijuana products called Highsman.
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In May, he detailed to Fox News Digital how cannabis use changed his mindset and helped him with anxiety.