Doug Williams Seems Eager To Join Skins
December 18th, 2009
The last time Doug Williams left the Bucs, he went to the USFL before landing a job as the Redskins’ backup quarterback in 1986. That year he threw one pass.
A backup again the following season, Williams was named the Redskins’ starter for the playoffs and led Washington to one of the all-time Super Bowl routs to cap the ’87 season.
(Joe just thinks that’s a cool story.)
Now it seems that Williams, currently the Bucs director of pro personnel, is eager to go back to Washington.
With the ink still wet on Bruce Allen’s new contract as the Redskins’ general manager, Williams was on the phone with the Washington Examiner telling Redskins nation what a great guy his former boss is.
And Williams hardly showed any enthusiasm about staying in Tampa.
On his own interest for a job here: “That’s strictly up to Bruce. It wouldn’t be good to say that now.”
Let Joe translate: “I can’t wait to get to Washington!”
Joe wonders whether Mark Dominik and the Bucs might make a public play to keep Williams from bolting.
Or perhaps they won’t care one darn bit, as was suggested by Scott Reynolds, The Grand Wizard of PewterReport.com, the Internet-only, Bucs fan site best known for its defunct print magazine.
Two weeks ago, Reynolds informed his followers that not-to-be-named player agents are telling him Williams is subpar in his gig as Bucs director of pro personnel and is likely to be fired by Mark Dominik following this season.
If Williams leaves, regardless of why, Joe would be bummed out to see him exit One Buc Palace. It just feels right to have the Bucs icon in town.
December 18th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Goodbye and good riddance. When the all the vets were purged at one-buc-place Williams should have been shown the door as well.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Doug Williams is a good man, no matter if he is great at his new job or not. I believe that Williams was asked to find the best talent with little or no money and entice them to come play for team with an inept Coaching staff that can’t win for losing. What a great job to have.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I have no animus against Doug Williams. I think he’s a great guy, as far as I know. He is a Bucs icon, for sure. I still remember the years he was here, throwing passes on-target, hitting receivers on the numbers in stride (it would’ve been nice if those receivers could’ve held onto a few more of those balls, but I digress).
He left the Bucs under a horrible cloud of heinous front office decision-making, leading to the rumor that the Bucs were cursed to flounder in futility throughout the 80s strictly because of how badly they treated Doug Williams in letting him go.
As stated by Joe, he wound up as a staring QB for the Redskins a few years later, and the question then (difficult to fathom today) was whether a black man could be smart enough to play quarterback in the NFL. No, I’m not kidding, and those of us who were alive back then remember. It was hard to watch a good man and a great player like Doug Williams play at such a high level for another team, but I loved how he quietly answered his brain-dead critics with his performance on the field game after game, week after week. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the Jackie Robinson of football. Doug Williams single-handedly dispelled every last pathetic question about “black intelligence” and personally, I loved watching it happen.
But times and circumstances have changed. He was a great quarterback, but I don’t see him being a very good talent scout, or recruiter, or whatever it is he does now in the player personnel department. It’s a shame to see Doug Williams go, but we can’t keep him if he isn’t doing a good job just because of nostalgia.
December 18th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
I think it would be good for the Bucs to let Doug Williams go to the Red Skins. Recruiting has been sub par. He is in charge of that I believe. Being a good guy doesn’t have a hellava lot to do with job performace detrimental to the Bucs. Far too many behavior and character problems on the team. All a result of lazy screening practices. Higher standards would be very beneficial to the Bucs.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:24 am
It doesn’t sound like he has been a good scout for the team. But I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. If he wants to go, let him go.
Williams was the starter long before the playoffs started. He replaced Schroeder in the first game when he got hurt. Then he started the 2nd game and the strike happened. Schroeder gets his job back, but Doug finally replaces him for good in the 9th game.
I did hate to see him go in ’83. It was a shame that Culverhouse was a racist and cheap as hell. The guy was the heart and soul of the team. I always liked him. But my brother and father didn’t care for him at all. Not sure what games Tristan was watching, but Williams consistently overthrew his receivers. Take a look at his comp percentage when he was with TB for further proof. I did take a gander at his playoff stats with TB and they were awful. I was glad he won the SB with Wash. It was vindication for him.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Hey: If the guy wants to leave….GO. Why would we want someone on our staff that does not want to be there. Good luck in Washington.