Ricky Williams predicts no NFL lockout

Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, the team's newly elected player representative to the NFL Players Association, has an optimistic feeling about the outcome of labor negotiations in the coming months.

While there have been several gloom-and-doom predictions about a work stoppage in 2011, Williams believes there will be a settlement before then.

"Personally, I have a positive outlook," Williams said Wednesday in a conference call with Vikings reporters. The Dolphins play Minnesota on Sunday. "I think we're going to come to an agreement. At least I hope that there's not going to be a lockout. I believe that we're being reasonable, and there are cerrtain things that are important to us and we're going to fight for. But I think when it comes down to it, there's going to be an agreement reached." 

From his lips to the ears of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, who are still at loggerheads about a new agreement. The current CBA expires after the 2011 draft.

Williams, 33, might appear to be an odd choice as the Dolphins' player rep. After all, he retired before the 2004 season after several violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy. He eventually returned, but played in only one game in the 2006-07 seasons. But he is the longest tenured Dolphin with eight seasons, and is the team's oldest player besides Chad Pennington.

Williams took over as player rep from wide receiver Greg Camarillo, who is now a Vikings receiver after getting traded during the preseason.

As a gesture of union solidarity, the Dolphins and Bills raised their index fingers before Sunday's game in Buffalo. The gesture was repeated before several other games.

"It's a wonderful thing," Williams said of the gesture. "It's not only the players. Ideally, we'd have people in the stands doing it, people that work in the stadium. Because if there's a lockout initiated by the owners, it's not only going to be us that suffer, it's going to be the people that work for the stadium, the fans, the hotels, it's going to be the economies of these cities."