Ricky Williams is retiring from the NFL.
Again.
This time, however, it appears to be for good.
The 34-year-old Williams told the Ravens yesterday he won’t be back to fulfill the second year of a contract he signed in August. Playing as a backup to Ray Rice this year, Williams ran for 444 yards and scored two touchdowns.
He also became the 26th player in NFL history to reach 10,000 yards rushing, reaching the plateau in the season finale at Cincinnati.
“The NFL has been an amazing page in this chapter of my life,’’ Williams said. “I pray that all successive adventures offer me the same potential for growth, success and most importantly, fun.’’
Williams retired previously before the 2004 season when facing a four-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy. He returned in 2005, then left to spend the 2006 season with Toronto of the Canadian Football League.
After an outstanding college career at Texas, where he won the Heisman Trophy, Williams broke into the NFL in 1999 with the Saints. Mike Ditka, then coach of the Saints, traded all the team’s draft and first- and third-round picks in 2000 to pick Williams fifth overall.
Williams spent only three years with New Orleans, but during over 11 years in the league he had five 1,000-yard rushing seasons and finished with 10,009 yards on the ground.
Williams led the NFL in 2002 with 1,853 yards rushing for the Dolphins and received his lone Pro Bowl invitation that season.
A Giant celebration
Thousands of fans roared as Giants quarterback Eli Manning hoisted the team’s Super Bowl trophy from a glittering blue-and-white float during a victory parade through New York City, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg quipped should now be nicknamed the “Big Blue Apple.’’
The parade set off from the southern tip of Manhattan and moved slowly north to City Hall as fans stood dressed head to toe in Giants gear and confetti wafted slowly down.
The MVP Manning, joined by coach Tom Coughlin, Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and other teammates, waved and grinned from the float as a deep roar rose from the crowds.
The team was introduced at a City Hall Plaza ceremony with thunderous applause from the thousands of fans outside.
Coughlin said the Giants were successful because they never gave up.
“The key thing was to remember this: All things are possible for those who believe,’’ Coughlin said. “We always believed.’’
The team confirmed tight end Jake Ballard tore his left ACL in the Super Bowl, but with the help of crutches, he was able to participate in the parade.
Bills re-sign Lindell
The Bills re-signed kicker Rian Lindell and hired former star Pete Metzelaars to be their tight ends coach. Lindell was re-signed before he was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next month. He returns for a 10th season in Buffalo, where he is second on the team in scoring with 878 career points. Metzelaars joins the Bills after spending the previous eight seasons as an assistant with the Colts … Denver prosecutors said Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno has been charged with drunken driving and careless driving after getting pulled over in south Denver. Moreno is also charged with failure to have proof of insurance and is due in court March 2. He was pulled over Feb. 1 after allegedly driving 70 miles per hour in an interstate construction zone where the speed limit was 45 mph … The Bears hired Jeremy Bates as quarterbacks coach, reuniting him with Jay Cutler. He worked well with Cutler as an assistant for three years with the Broncos.
