The former Ravens RB believes that NFL teams will welcome him back despite the memory of his infamous elevator punch still ingrained in peoples’ minds.
Former Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice said in an interview that he believes he will get a second chance at the NFL and believes he can return to full form.
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In a Q&A interview with The Baltimore Sun, Rice told Aaron Wilson that he’s “optimistic” that he will receive a second chance with the league even though he has become a pariah by many players, coaches, executives and NFL sponsors.
“I’m optimistic that I’ll get a second chance,” Rice said. “I don’t think this boils down to whether I can play football or not. Obviously I know that. I just think there’s so much more that comes with it. I know the PR side of it will be tough. I understand that. I just know that if a team that really truly genuinely looks at me and understood that this guy made a horrible mistake then they can structure a plan for me. I don’t like to be singled out, I like to be part of the team, if they can understand that I’ll do anything to help the situation and go out and give them the best football I got, I think I’ll get a second chance.”
Rice talked about the state of his marriage to Janay Rice, whom he punched not once but twice in an Atlantic City hotel elevator that was shown to the world back in September that effectively ended his tenure with the Ravens and resulted in his release from the Ravens and suspension by the league.
“Me and Janay is doing good. My daughter and everybody it’s kind of fitting to be able to spend Valentine’s Day and kind of recall the year because that’s 365 days of thinking about this weight on our shoulders… We’ve had this on our back for 365 days and we’ve carried our luggage and we’ve handled it pretty good. We actually had a quiet couple’s night. We went out a little bit. Sunday morning, it just felt good to get up, my daughter there, we just kind of lounged around. That was good enough for us.”
Rice spoke about his unproductive 2013 season, which led in large part to the Ravens’ quick decision to cut him rather than let the issue play out as the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers did with RB Adrian Peterson and DE Greg Hardy respectively. He said that he was sure he could play all three downs in a given NFL drive and said he could “vouch” for his own ability – but added that he would need a second opinion before NFL teams would believe him.
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