Dolphins starting to warm to Ricky’s return

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 | 10:40 a.m.

SUN WIRE SERVICES

When Ricky Williams abruptly retired just days before training camp last summer, the prevailing notion was the star running back would never be accepted back by the Miami Dolphins teammates he deserted.

Yet, with Williams apparently close to a comeback and new coach Nick Saban supporting it, the Dolphins could soon be forced to deal with it.

"As long as he's committed, that's the key," Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas said during last weekend's minicamp. "I'll take anybody in here that is committed to help our team."

Discipline looms under terms of the NFL's drug policy. If Williams returns after July 27, the one-year date of his retirement, a league spokesman confirmed he will be suspended for the first four games of the season -- as he would have been last year because of a second violation of the drug policy.

Returning before July 27 would result in a one-year suspension because of a third violation before the retirement, which, under the policy, could have occurred with a missed or failed test.

All-pro defensive end Jason Taylor voiced some of the strongest disgust with Williams last year.

Asked Saturday about Williams, Taylor said, "I'll deal with the Ricky situation when it happens."

Winslow, 21, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee when he crashed his motorcycle into a parking lot curb at 35 mph. He was hospitalized for nine days.

In his first interview since the accident, Winslow told the Akron Beacon Journal that he lacerated his liver and kidney, bruised his right shoulder and cracked a bone in his upper right leg in the crash, in addition to the torn knee ligament.

He said all of his injuries have healed except for his knee and that he was aware that riding a motorcycle was listed as a hazardous activity in his contract.

A center since joining the Texans in 2002, McKinney may return to the position he played in college at Texas A&M and for the first four years of his NFL career with Indianapolis.