Press Release: #REDSKINS PROMOTE DOUG WILLIAMS TO SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF PLAYER PERSONNEL

[dyst]

12 minutes ago, carex said:

 

well, you know there's not a lot highly successful guys out there looking for jobs, and even if you get a guy who can't advance with his current team there's still a chance that he could blow it.

 

Meaning every move is "let's just  wait and see" whether you want to admit it or not

Yep, I know you're right about that. This is just such a Skins move. I wish I could say that with pride, like how people say "this is such a Patriot/Steeler/etc move. 

 

We had a GM, who had respect, a proven record and the support of the fans. A GM who was respected around the league, who could make a call, speak to other GMs and probably get good deals. Instead we opt'd for a guy who has limited unsuccessful GM credentials. Typical Skins move.

 

If we don't sign Kirk, Snyder will go sign Thesiman just to calm the fans. It's what he does.

[bowhunter]

At one point, it was questioned if the FO read this board, just to get a barometer of the fans thoughts, ideas, and feedback. I am now convinced that they do not.

[glongest]

I am guessing all of our eastern division rivals and sitting around their board table table today saying to themselves whew, we dodged a bullet.  For a moment there we thought they were going to start running that team like an NFL franchise.  But they came back to earth.  Looks like we will have another 20 years of winning the division and going to the playoffs without much interference from that that.  Just more of the same.

 

I like Doug Williams but anyone that thinks this guy is going to pick the players to bring a Super Bowl winner back to DC, well you are living in a fantasy land.

[Veryoldschool]

Doug Williams is an affable guy and I'm glad he has a job but I am not pleased with Dan Snyder has decided to go without a GM.  Cousins would be smart to refuse to sign any LTD and pick from several suitors in 2018,

[Wyvern]

A sadly typical move by the Redskins brass.  Bruce uber alles!  ?

[goskins10]

2 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

I'd only buy into him being ridiculously smart if someone spent some time with him. That's why I was asking Thinking Skins if he met him.  And if he did I'd buy into it and I'd be curious about that experience.  I've been paying attention to the accolades and criticism on Doug and perhaps I missed it but the idea that he's ridiculously smart isn't a description I recall seeing.  

 

edit

I got no doubt Doug is liked and respected.  And I am open to the idea that Doug is ridiculously smart but for me to be convinced I'd love a story for someone who knows him on that front.  That's why I was asking -- because watching Doug on TV he doesn't ooze competence to me the way some others do.  That doesn't mean he isn't competent.  But when you got guys like Grant Paulsen saying they've talked to multiple people and the refrain is the same "nice guy but isn't the most competent dude" -- it makes you wonder why Doug has never been in demand as far as I know to get a job like this elsewhere.  But I am searching for a good sell for Doug on that front because I haven't really stumbled on it thus far.

 

So to be clear I was not just going off Tony Dungy and Earnest Byner. I did get a chance to talk with him for about 15 or 20 minutes. That still may not be enough time to make a solid assessment. But he struck me as fairly intelligent. If you are hung up on "ridiculously smart", not sure about that, but I also think @Voice_of_Reason was more using an expression as opposed to literally making that proclamation. But maybe not.

 

Again, for my part, from the 15 or so minutes I spoke with him I found him to be a pretty intelligent guy. Does that make him a great player evaluator? Not really. But I think some people think this was strictly a nice guy and sentimental hire. It may end up that way but I think he has a little better chance than people may think.

[skinsfan4128]

You guys (Even the in-the-kno fellers) already knew this was coming. How is this a shock? Snyder wasn't going to fix the problem. He was simply going to mask ir over like he has always done.

Did you really think any different?

Jesus walked on water Christ. It's never going to change as long as he's in charge. Is this really a surprise to any of yall?

He refuses to run this once proud franchise like it should be. He continues to trust idiots to run the organization and trusts them to do a good job. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Welcome to the Dan Snyder show.

Nothing new to see here. My rant is over.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

Doug Williams is a pretty common name.  Maybe it's a different Doug Williams.  

 

That's all I got.  

 

I swear, some of y'all would spit shine it if we hired Rick and ****ing Morty as Co-GMs.  This is not about Doug the legend, it's about Bruce the asshole.  I didn't think I would ever hate Bruce as much as I hate Dan, but Bruce's hellwater bath is heating up, while Dan's has been cooling a bit.  

[nemocystem]

Eff the noise...a massive, hearty, well deserved congrats goes out to Doug Williams.

 

Now let's move along, & win some football.

[Taylorcooley1]

I still love the Redskins..can't wait for the season to start!!

[William Barbour]

Every great GM want born a great GM. They built their way up. Those of you thrashing the man before he's even has a shot need to chill. 

 

He's actually brought in a few good players on the roster already.  

 

Schaffer, Scott Campbell, Doug Williams. Lots of teams would appreciate a front office like that. 

 

I guess Scot and his 2 stellar drafts here have us spoiled. ?

[Conn]

19 minutes ago, William Barbour said:

He's actually brought in a few good players on the roster already.

 

Um. When?

[Cooleyfan1993]

Yeah, I'm with the (small) crowd that's saying give the guy a freaking chance before we start saying "typical dan/Redskins/Bruce, screwing up the redskins once again" or whatever. Plus, I'm guessing Williams was involved in some way with this draft class? (Is that correct at all?) if so, we had a pretty good draft on paper, give the guy a chance ?? 

[Tsailand]

Here is the list of all the other NFL teams who were looking to hire Doug away from us to be their GM or head of Player Personnel:

 

•  
•  
•  
•  

[Cooleyfan1993]

7 minutes ago, Tsailand said:

Here is the list of all the other NFL teams who were looking to hire Doug away from us to be their GM or head of Player Personnel:

 

•  
•  
•  
•  

We know something they don't?  

[DogofWar1]

Best of luck to Doug.  Guy is as nice as they come.

 

I don't want to be cynical, but if things go south I hope his career is not swept away in it.  I know whose feet I would lay blame at, and it's not Doug's.

[campfodder]

Congrats black man!

[RedBeast]

8 minutes ago, campfodder said:

Congrats black man!

WTF?

 

Where is "hello there" when you need it?

[Skinsinparadise]

10 hours ago, goskins10 said:

 

So to be clear I was not just going off Tony Dungy and Earnest Byner. I did get a chance to talk with him for about 15 or 20 minutes. That still may not be enough time to make a solid assessment. But he struck me as fairly intelligent. If you are hung up on "ridiculously smart", not sure about that, but I also think @Voice_of_Reason was more using an expression as opposed to literally making that proclamation. But maybe not.

 

Again, for my part, from the 15 or so minutes I spoke with him I found him to be a pretty intelligent guy. Does that make him a great player evaluator? Not really. But I think some people think this was strictly a nice guy and sentimental hire. It may end up that way but I think he has a little better chance than people may think.

 

Thanks for sharing.  And I'd figure anyone that works in the FO even Vinny Cerrato is smart on some level.  But when I think of ridiculously smart, what comes to my mind is this dude is above and beyond sharp.  He's super sharp, the brightest guy in the room.   I'll use Louis Reddick as an example since he was one of the guys mentioned early on as a potential candidate.   When I watch him on TV, he's super smooth, super articulate and tends to throw out some real football terminology with ease and shares X's and O's often when he speaks.  He comes off to me very impressive.  

 

Doug to me comes off impressive in his humility and niceness.  But at least on TV, he's not articulate IMO and usually speaks in basic platitudes when he talks football-- not much X and O football.  I am not suggesting that there isn't more depth to what you see on TV.  But on TV IMO Doug's niceness shows but I don't see ultra intelligence oozing out of him on camera.   So when Paulsen and to a lessor degree Russell describes Doug based on people they know who know him at Redskins Park as really really nice but not that great with personnel or super competent -- that seems to flow versus go against the grain with the TV image I have of Doug.  

 

I don't know how legitimate it was when that guy met Scot at a gas station and talked football for awhile where a podcast was done on it and we talked about it on a thread.  Among other things what Scot said is that Doug is a nice guy but doesn't know personnel. Scot in other interviews though complemented other guys in the building like Scott Campbell.   That whole drill was brought up again yesterday on twitter.

 

But if you talked to Doug personally for 15-20 minutes.  That's a decent chunk of time.  But fairly intelligent and ridiculously smart are apples to oranges descriptions.   The reason why I am hung up on the stronger term is it so goes against the grain of the other plaudits.  It's not that people are knocking Doug's intellect but no one that I've noticed is saying anything along the lines of this dude is so sharp and so knows personnel.  And that's what I'd like to hear and I am disappointed that it isn't the general description of the hire.  

 

I was just listening to Joe Theismann and he echoed more of less what others have said.  It's really nice that Doug is recognized this way.  Personally, I am tired of that type of description of this hire.  The reason why he gets this job IMO shouldn't be that he's a legend, he paid his dues, he deserves it or simply people love him and he's a great guy.  Unless, he's not really calling the shots and they just wanted to make a good guy the face of the franchise.  And if that's what they are doing.  It's a brilliant move.  And I don't mean that sarcastically.  I genuinely do think Doug is the perfect ambassador for the team if that's really the defacto role he assumes. 

 

[RWJ]

18 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

I was just listening to Joe Theismann and he echoed more of less what others have said.  It's really nice that Doug is recognized this way.  Personally, I am tired of that type of description of this hire.  The reason why he gets this job IMO shouldn't be that he's a legend, he paid his dues, he deserves it or simply people love him and he's a great guy.  Unless, he's not really calling the shots and they just wanted to make a good guy the face of the franchise.  And if that's what they are doing.  It's a brilliant move.  And I don't mean that sarcastically.  I genuinely do think Doug is the perfect ambassador for the team if that's really the defacto role he assumes. 

 

Well, SIP that's the part that bothers me to some extent is that we didn't hire or will not hire a true GM until Bruce Allen moves into another area of the Redskin's organization that doesn't include player personnel.  That needs to go to a true GM.  This just appears to be a cover blanket for Allen in case things don't work out and Williams, the draft and player personnel goes south from here.  I could be seeing this totally wrong though.  Who knows.

[goskins10]

2 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

Thanks for sharing.  And I'd figure anyone that works in the FO even Vinny Cerrato is smart on some level.  But when I think of ridiculously smart, what comes to my mind is this dude is above and beyond sharp.  He's super sharp, the brightest guy in the room.   I'll use Louis Reddick as an example since he was one of the guys mentioned early on as a potential candidate.   When I watch him on TV, he's super smooth, super articulate and tends to throw out some real football terminology with ease and shares X's and O's often when he speaks.  He comes off to me very impressive.  

 

edit

 

I was just listening to Joe Theismann and he echoed more of less what others have said.  It's really nice that Doug is recognized this way.  Personally, I am tired of that type of description of this hire.  The reason why he gets this job IMO shouldn't be that he's a legend, her paid his dues, he deserves it or simply people love him and he's a great guy.  Unless, he's not really calling the shots and they just wanted to make a good guy the face of the franchise.  And if that's what they are doing.  It's a brilliant move.  And I don't mean that sarcastically.  I genuinely do think Doug is the perfect ambassador for the team if that's really the defacto role he assumes. 

 

 

Fair enough. Just will add a few things. I would never assume the people in any FO are reasonably intelligent. Just not my nature but I get what you are saying. I am not sure about the Scot podcast thing. Not sure how much I would take to that. But it certainly cannot be discounted.

 

I get what you are saying "smartest person in the room" vs. reasonably intelligent. But again I am not sure VOR meant it literally but OK. The one thing I would point out is that Joe Jacoby looked horrible on TV. Anyone remember the one ad he had? He could barely put 2 sentences together. However he was a clubhouse leader and known for being extremely intelligent, very high football IQ. I got that from several Ex Redskins from that era, most recently from Charles Mann.

 

I definitely agree with the last statement. He is a great ambassador for the team. The unfortunately part is he could perform that role without being promoted to a position that at least implies he will be making major player personnel decisions. I should also be clear - I am not really high on this hire - or lack of a hire. But I am also not as down on it as many others appear to be. I am certainly not surprised by it.

 

We should start to get an idea when players get injured and they need to bring in players off the street. I believe that was one of Scot's biggest strengths, and one of the very unique things he brought to the team. For me, while the major picks and FA signings are important, the rubber hits the road on the back end of the roster. Under Scot the back end of the roster was much stronger than quite frankly the last 20 yrs or more. You can see that by STs going from 29th in 2014 to 6th in 2015 and 14th in 2016 (thank Hopkins missed FGs for the drop). Also, especially in 2015 when guys went down they were able to bring guys in who could make plays. Previously when a starter went down, even a bad one there was a noticeable drop off in performance.

[Skinsinparadise]

20 minutes ago, goskins10 said:

 

Fair enough. Just will add a few things. I would never assume the people in any FO are reasonably intelligent. Just not my nature but I get what you are saying. I am not sure about the Scot podcast thing. Not sure how much I would take to that. But it certainly cannot be discounted.

 

I get what you are saying "smartest person in the room" vs. reasonably intelligent. But again I am not sure VOR meant it literally but OK. The one thing I would point out is that Joe Jacoby looked horrible on TV. Anyone remember the one ad he had? He could barely put 2 sentences together. However he was a clubhouse leader and known for being extremely intelligent, very high football IQ. I got that from several Ex Redskins from that era, most recently from Charles Mann.

 

Yeah I agree and said as much as well which is you can be crazy smart and not articulate.  With me though there is more to it with Doug.  You mentioned Jacoby.  I actually found him fairly insightful in his post game radio broadcasts years back in sort of a John Madden type of way -- folksy and entertaining.  Doug just for whatever reason doesn't show off as far as I noticed much football knowledge when he talks.  Going back to my Louis Reddick example -- I'd be floored if I ever saw Doug describe X and O football with the depth that Reddick does.  It doesn't mean that Doug isn't capable of it.  I've just not seen it.  And that isn't my main point either.  My main point is I totally acknowledge that I am judging Doug on a superficial level but it just so happens that my feeling watching "TV Doug" jives with the description I am hearing about him.  

 

Chris Russell IMO takes the most interesting ride on Doug.  He likes the hire but for these reasons:  he doesn't think Doug is truly calling the shots anyway so he says any fan that has a beef with his personnel expertise is barking on the wrong note considering Bruce will really be the guy running that ship. So Doug's personnel expertise is a side issue and not that important.  So his main argument is he likes Doug because other people in the building like him so they will rally for him.  And it builds morale to have a likable guy get the job and that they hired within house.  Russell while selling this acknowledges that he hasn't heard great things about Doug's personnel expertise, competence and work ethic.   Jay though talked about Doug working hard, yesterday.  So on the work ethic drill I think Russell is alone.  But for me the personnel expertise isn't the side note.  It's the main feature. 

 

Like I've said Doug's advocates (and I don't just mean Russell) make me more concerned about the hire than the detractors do.  Simply because I find the advocate arguments so weak.   I don't always agree with hires and transactions but usually the opposing argument is thought provoking where you think maybe I am wrong on this so lets see.  With Doug I find the praise more concerning than the criticism because it has so little meat behind it. 

 

Do I think it could work out?  Sure.  But I don't like the mindset at all behind the hire.  It feels old school Danny.  And that's not a complement.  

[goskins10]

1 minute ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

Yeah I agree and said as much as well which is you can be crazy smart and not articulate.  With me though there is more to it with Doug.  You mentioned Jacoby.  I actually found him fairly insightful in his post game radio broadcasts years back in sort of a John Madden type of way -- folksy and entertaining.  Doug just for whatever reason doesn't show off as far as I noticed much football knowledge when he talks.  Going back to my Louis Reddick example -- I'd be floored if I ever saw Doug describe X and O football with the depth that Reddick does.  It doesn't mean that Doug isn't capable of it.  I've just not seen it.  And that isn't my main point either.  My main point is I totally acknowledge that I am judging Doug on a superficial level but it just so happens that my feeling watching "TV Doug" jives with the description I am hearing about him.

 

edit. 

 

Like I've said Doug's advocates (and I don't just mean Russell) make me more concerned about the hire than the detractors do.  Simply because I find the advocate arguments so weak.   I don't always agree with hires and transactions but usually the opposing argument is thought provoking where you think maybe I am wrong on this so lets see.  With Doug I find the praise more concerning than the criticism because it has so little meat behind it. 

 

Do I think it could work out?  Sure.  But I don't like the mindset at all behind the hire.  It feels old school Danny.  And that's not a complement. 

 

I don't think we are much different here. I will just leave you with this - I would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt in terms of X's and O's, as not only was a he a successful NFL QB he was Head Coach for Grambling not once, but twice. He was also pretty successful winning three straight Black College Football National Championships.

 

We will see. I remain cautiously hopeful - a condition I have learned to live with being a Redskins fan.

 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

34 minutes ago, goskins10 said:

 

I don't think we are much different here. I will just leave you with this - I would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt in terms of X's and O's, as not only was a he a successful NFL QB he was Head Coach for Grambling not once, but twice. He was also pretty successful winning three straight Black College Football National Championships.

 

We will see. I remain cautiously hopeful - a condition I have learned to live with being a Redskins fan.

 

 

I was just listening to him on 980 just now.  He talked again in such basic generalities.  Yeah I told Jordan Reed -- take care of your body.  Ryan Kerrigan he's a real lunch pail guy. I really like this guy.  That was sort of the tone of the interview.  Sheehan asked him what he thought about the roster.   He didn't give really a single detail that was interesting or insightful about any player.  And maybe that's just the way he talks on air -- and again I would completely ignore it if it didn't ring a little bit with the criticisms of him.

 

But I agree obviously he must know some X's and O's.  He has to know it.  I am just saying the dude is so understated both as a speaker and really doesn't flaunt any expertise (if you didn't know who was on the air, you'd think that was just a casual fan who talked with Sheehan just now)  that he doesn't give off the vibe that we can all relax because this dude is at the helm.  

 

That's all.  If I am watching a press conference from Jay, he's throwing nuggets all over the place.  Scot will talk about his coding system, what routes guys like to run, etc.  With Doug, you get none of that at least so far.  

[campfodder]

3 hours ago, RedBeast said:

WTF?

 

Where is "hello there" when you need it?

 

IDC I'm glad they finally let somebody with melanin do something