It’s Doug’s Turn
by Richard Rogers
On Tuesday, the Washington Redskins named Doug Williams Senior Vice-President of Player Personnel. This was a promotion for him, I think. I’m not sure what his title or job was prior to the announcement, but now, he’s the third highest ranking official within the organization. Team President Bruce Allen praised Williams’ character and lauded him for presenting a “plan” for the direction of the organization. The announcement has been met with mixed reviews. Some have praised the move as the Redskins are rewarding its faithful lieutenants. Others direct most of their criticism at Bruce Allen for still remaining in charge and the man with final say.
There still does not seem to be a clear accountability stream within the organization and who decides what, but perhaps that doesn’t matter. Williams was clear in his press conference that the GM model with one person having final say, “did not work”. Based on Allen and Williams’ comments, there will continue to be shared decision making. Allen mentioned several people within the organization that effectively managed the draft, free agency and player evaluations. For those that are looking for a traditional general manager that evaluates, picks and negotiates with players, you won’t find it here. That person has not existed since Charlie Casserly. Everyone has a say until Bruce has the final say.
Most Redskins fans love Doug Williams. He arguably had the single greatest quarter of football for a quarterback in Super Bowl history. As the first African-American quarterback to win a Superbowl, he is a source of pride for African-Americans. He’s a great story. Williams played in Tampa for five seasons, before moving to the USFL. He came back to the NFL as the quarterback of the Washington Redskins in 1986. He did not have the best relationship with Jay Schroeder at the time, but Gibbs rolled the dice and went with Doug and the rest is history. He’s bounced around the coaching ranks with most of his experience coming as coach of the legendary Grambling Tigers where he amassed a 61-34 record. As a personnel executive, his record has been spotty. He served as a scout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2004-2008. Williams doesn’t have the pedigree of a Scot McCloughan or most other top executives.
If you’re objective, this could be looked at as a highly questionable hire. It’s not as if Doug’s role with this team has been clearly defined, to the public at least, by the Redskins. We don’t know if, or how much involvement he’s had with any of the personnel moves the Redskins have made since he’s been here. Cynics could rightfully point to yet another Tampa connection. “Homers” could point to a legend being given a chance. Doug won the Super Bowl as a Redskin and he’s one of us. For me, I can honestly say, I don’t know what this is. Are we all of sudden supposed to believe that Williams’ talent evaluation ability is of the same ilk as Scot McCloughan? Not hardly. But that’s not important to me. McCloughan was clearly a skilled talent evaluator, but many folks miss a BIG question in all of this. How much of the Redskins’ personnel resurgence is Scot McCloughan and how much of it was a collective effort. The Bruce “haters” would lead you to believe that McCloughan was the savior of the organization and the team’s upward trend is mostly Scot’s doing. A more measured take on this would be that this has been a collective effort with Scot setting the blueprint. McCloughan said so himself. He praised Gruden’s eye for talent as well as others within the front office.
For me, Williams will only be as successful as the people around him. He doesn’t pretend to be a “me” guy. In fact, it seems as if the plan he presented was void of a single voice. It would help if we knew Williams’ duties as personnel guy prior to this announcement. Did he stand on the table for any particular player? Was Su’a Cravens his guy? Did he insist on Maurice Harris? Based on some of the local media stories, one can conclude that he had a hand in the Anthony Lanier acquisition as an UDFA DE out of Alabama A & M last season.
As this front office structure unfolds, people need to be less emotional about Bruce Allen and his role. He’s the Team President. Get over it. He’s not stepping down, and aside from a disaster (perhaps the Cousins contract negotiations) he’s not going anywhere. There has been a lot of unfair speculation that Doug Williams is just another “puppet” for Bruce. Time will tell, but let’s not sell Williams short. I’m sure he’s smart enough to see what has preceded him and has had that discussion with Allen. We may never really know the outcome.
For right now, let’s sit back and enjoy the product on the field. We’ve got some new defensive toys to play with and a few infirmed players returning to the field. There will be plenty of time to rip the front office, but in the meantime, let’s give Doug a chance. Gibbs gave him a shot 30 years ago. Let’s give him one now.