Recently retired running back and former Dolphin Ricky Williams said Miami general manager Jeff Ireland, who has been battling the perception that his style can be a turn-off to players, approaches his football and personal relationships in very different ways.
"I think if you met Jeff Ireland on the street, or you fell down and you needed someone to help you, or your car broke down, or if you met him anywhere on the street, you would think he was the nicest, most genuine, cool guy in the world," Williams said on WQAM-AM radio in Miami on Friday. "But if you are on the football team, he's a total (expletive)."
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Williams suggested that Ireland is trying to effect "the persona that he thinks he has to be."
"My experience with him is, he's always been really, really nice, really, really nice and really good to me," Williams said. "And one time, he thought I had gotten in trouble or something, and he was a total (expletive). And it just happened in two seconds, and I was like, 'Whoa, where did that come from?' "
Williams announced earlier this year that he would retire from the Baltimore Ravens. Later in the interview on Friday, Williams said that if he were to seriously consider returning to football, it would be to play for Bill Parcells, who was a key figure in Williams' time with the Dolphins.
Parcells has been discussed as a possible temporary replacement for suspended Saints coach Sean Payton. Williams was with the Saints from 1999 to 2001.
In a separate radio interview earlier Wednesday, with KVET-AM in Austin, Texas, Williams suggested that the San Diego Chargers would also be in the mix, though whether he was serious was not entirely clear.
The hosts joked with Williams about how he's been known to retire before -- Williams had a brief retirement in 2004 before continuing his career -- and Williams assured them that he has signed his retirement papers. Then he suggested he could play in San Diego.
"The only way I would come back is if the Chargers called me," Williams said, causing the hosts to laugh.
U-T San Diego later reported that the Chargers have not had any contact with Williams, citing a league source.
