The biggest story of the weekend among NFL circles was the return of Ricky Williams to the Miami Dolphins training camp on Sunday. People have lined up over the past year to knock every aspect of the man. People discredited his heart, his loyalty, his work ethic and his values. Countless jokes were made about him choosing pot over work, his career going “up in smoke” and his love of himself over others.

First of all, many people who are involved in the football world seem to lose perspective of what it is they do for a living. Players do exactly that, they play a game for a living. Coaches coach players in a game. Every time I hear a player or coach parallel what they do with war, I get a little squeamish. Everyone raised hell over what a disgrace to the team and to the game Williams was, and how he let down the fans, his team and his coaches.

It is certainly true he let down his fans. I will never forget the sick feeling I got in my stomach when ESPN reported he was retiring, right before a training camp that had me excited for the Dolphins’ chance of making an impact that season. Many season ticket holders in Miami had to sit through an unbearably bad season watching an inexplicably bad team. The NFL watched one of its proudest, most successful franchises flounder and finish with the second-worst record in football.

His teammates were obviously hurt too, as a team full of pro-bowl caliber players played in anonymity for most of the season. And, certainly, his coaches were let down. But this, ladies and gentlemen, is where Ricky did more good for the Miami Dolphins than anyone may yet realize.

I believe Ricky Williams was faced with a lose-lose situation. He was coming into a camp for a Dave Wannstedt-coached football team, where the shortsighted coach would have inevitably thrown Williams into a swarm of defenders for 16 games, and would have logged him over 300 carries, for what would have still been a losing team. Williams was also facing a suspension from three failed drug tests — as he admitted — he had smoked some marijuana.

So how did Williams benefit the Dolphins? He exposed Wannstedt for the very poor pro football coach he was. He led the team to a 1-8 record, the team was in complete discord, and generally painful to watch. After he mercifully stepped down, the team improved, and Miami added the most sought-after coach at the college level, Nick Saban.

Saban, a savvy ex-NFL assistant, quickly tried to mend the fence with Williams, leaving an opening for him to return. Saban went out of his way to accommodate his return to the team. He has allowed his team the opportunity to utilize a player they surrendered two first round picks to acquire and a perfect compliment to the team’s number two overall pick, Ronnie Brown of Auburn.

Until you have walked a day in Williams’ shoes, it is easy to point fingers or make judgments, but rest assured, the Dolphins will be better for what he did, and as the man himself said:

“If I hadn’t taken that year off to pursue my dreams, I wouldn’t be here today.”