Some teams probably would have insisted on a little bit different a structure of the contract, much like the Dolphins have done here. Because the Saints didn't make it structured straight up to pay as you play, they had all kinds of escalators in there for future years. And these escalators once Ricky failed to achieve them, prevented him from making any decent amount of incentives in future years no matter what he rushed for. He could have rushed for 2000 yards this season and still probably seen only about $1.5 million in base salary the way the contract goes. Now if he does that, I believe his base salary jumps to what it should be, despite the fact that he didn't rush for 1800 yards as a rookie.
The contract was a boneheaded move on both parts. Ricky shouldn't have signed it but neither should the Saints given how much they were vesting in Ricky Williams. They should have realized that ANYONE will hit bumps in the road and the contract they agreed to would only lead to heartache and love-loss between the Saints and Ricky. It was designed to bilk him, and when any player agrees out of ignorance to be bilked, once he finds out he's being bilked he will want a more fair contract. When he asked for one, the Saints outright denied him. That was a good will issue. All they needed do was show some good faith...do like we need and make some incentives easier to be achieved and whatnot. When you're making your RB unhappy, the RB whom you've banked the future on and depend on week in and week out, NOBODY wins no matter how justified you feel in just sticking with the contract he signed. If you truly value the guy, pay him what he's worth or at least close to it, rather than using every opportunity to save a buck at his expense...cuz that only leads to enmity (which it did in this case)