Ray Rice thinks the window on his NFL career is closing. In reality, it’s already been nailed shut.
But he has one last plan for busting it open and extending his tenure. Rice tells USA Today that, if he gets another chance to play pro football, he’ll donate his entire salary to domestic-violence related causes.
“Me donating my salary is something that’ll be from the heart for me,” Rice said. “I only want to play football so I can end it the right way for my kids and for the people that really believed in me. But I know there’s a lot of people affected by domestic violence, and every dollar helps. It’s raising awareness.”
The gesture may be from Rice’s heart, but it’s also from a mind that understands a desperation play is needed to change a status quo that has resulted in no sniffs ever since the Ravens cut him on September 9, 2014. Given the supply of running backs, Rice’s age, his performance in his most recent NFL stint (already three seasons ago), and the pariah status he acquired at 345 Park Avenue through both the notorious elevator knockout video and his successful effort to overturn an indefinite suspension imposed after the video surfaced, Rice is done.
Even if the vow to donate his salary finally washes away the tarnish of his behavior, Rice still plays a dime-a-dozen position featuring a never ending glut of young players having low minimum salaries and maximum tread on the tires.
Bills coach Rex Ryan has praised Rice in the past. A year ago, however, Ryan said Rice wasn’t an option because the team didn’t have needs at tailback. This year, with the Bills reportedly sniffing around Reggie Bush in the wake of the Karlos Williams suspension, a need exists. But there’s still no interest in Rice.
If the Bills and Ryan aren’t interested, why would anyone else be? For more than a full football season and all of a second offseason, no one has shown any desire to sign Rice. His vow to donate his salary to charity likely won’t change that.
