Don Banks of Sports Illustrated welcomes Ricky Williams back into the NFL, after his year-long disappearing act, and explains to Ricky what he's missed during his hiatus:

Welcome back, Ricky Williams!

Here's what you missed in the NFL while you were off globe-trotting with Lenny Kravitz, learning the fine art of holistic medicine, and finding yourself (lighter by about 30 pounds and many thousands of dollars):

• This probably isn't going to come as a shock to you, but Jay Fiedler is no longer the Dolphins starting quarterback. Not that it really matters, because the equally non-descript A.J. Feeley is. Unless of course it's Gus Frerotte. And you know the saying, Ricky: If you have two starting quarterbacks, you really don't have one good one.

• You may be Miami's new/old running back -- but the Dolphins' ballcarrier du jour is Ronnie Brown, who was taken No. 2 overall in the draft in an effort to, well, replace you. Kind of funny isn't it? Miami couldn't find even one running back to save its life last year, and now it has two. Ain't that always the way it goes?

• You might have heard there's also a new sheriff in town. Guy by the name of Nick Saban. No-nonsense type. Which may not be the best fit for you, since you've created your share of nonsense in recent years. Saban's probably just trying to get you back on the field so he can shop you around the league, but for now he's your biggest fan.

• As for Dave Wannstedt, your old Dolphins coach who you helped sink last year with that unexpected retirement stuff, he's back in college football -- where, strangely enough, you always seemed to want to be. Wanny's calling the shots at Pitt. It's early, but so far this July, none of his Panthers have retired on him yet.

• Lucky for you, you're going to recognize at least one face in Miami's front office. The Dolphins new general manager is Randy Mueller, the guy who traded you from New Orleans to Miami in 2002. Just before taking the Dolphins job, Mueller, in his ESPN.com gig, opined that Miami wasn't as crazy as it seemed for wanting to take you back. That's called being on message for the team that's about to hire you.

• Super-agent/life-saver Drew Rosenhaus now represents everyone in the league but you. But his number is listed, and there won't be any long-distance charges because he's already in Miami.

• You better sit down for this one: The Eagles finally made the Super Bowl last season. No, they didn't win. But, hey, progress is progress.

• We know you felt a little isolated from the game last year, like you were in your own little world, but it could have been worse. It's been a tough 12 months or so for running backs everywhere. Jamal Lewis went to prison. Emmitt Smith was shown the door in Arizona. Travis Henry lost his job in Buffalo. Eddie George is d-o-n-e and Onterrio Smith -- well, let's just say he ain't the whiz kid he once was.

• You missed a couple Terrell Owens headlines. There was the Playboy interview. The Ray Lewis dance. The Nicollete Sheridan locker-room bit. The broken leg. The Super Bowl comeback. The sparring match with Donovan McNabb and the contract stalemate. Other than that, old No. 81 has been pretty much hush-hush and off the radar screen.

• You're probably not up on the two new words that everyone in the league had to learn last year: Ben Roethlisberger. Don't worry, it's actually fun to say once you get the hang of it.

• Wannstedt and your Dolphins teammates obviously weren't happy with you last summer. But at least there weren't any death threats that we know of, which is more than you can say for Kyle Turley and Mike Martz in St. Louis.

• Now that your one-year hiatus is mercifully over, the entire NFL community and its fans can get back to focusing on the issues that really matter. Like when, for the love of God, is Brett Favre going to retire?

• Don't let this deal your always tender psyche a blow, Rick, but not everybody's had the greatest results with this coming out of retirement stuff. Isn't that right, Joe Gibbs? And pipe down back there, Deion Sanders.

• With the year-long layoff and all, we know you're a little hard up for cash these days. But no matter what anyone promises you in the way of instant riches, don't even think about trying to scalp your Super Bowl tickets -- especially to Mike Tice or any other member of the Vikings coaching staff.

• There's not going to be a quiz on this, but just about everybody has changed teams since you last played. For instance, John Madden is going to NBC on Sunday nights, Monday Night Football is headed for ESPN and ABC looks like it's headed for a little bit of a retirement itself.

• Don't look now, but there's another Manning to keep track of these days. Eli quarterbacks the Giants, and combined with his brother, Peyton, the pair owns 67 career regular-season wins in the NFL. True, all but one of them belongs to Peyton, but that Eli, he's on the come.

• And about that Dan Marino single-season touchdown-pass record? Never mind.

• Oh, yeah, and one last important tidbit to file away: The New England Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions. See, Ricky, some things never change.