The Washington Redskins have been in search of someone to help them with their player personnel department for several months. Little did they realize that the man they were searching for was within their organization the whole time. On Tuesday morning, a meeting in the personnel department brought the news: former Washington quarterback Doug Williams would now be playing a significant role in the team's personnel department.
Washington's new senior VP of player personnel
The Redskins announced Williams' promotion at a team personnel meeting, according to USA Today.
He will be reporting directly to Bruce Allen, the team president. It's unclear what his day-to-day responsibilities will be in his new role, since every NFL front office is structured differently. In all likelihood, he will have a responsibility in determining whether or not the team should pursue roster decisions and help evaluate those decisions from a variety of standpoints.
Williams appeared to be grateful in statements made following the promotion, in addition to showing some excitement for the challenge ahead. In some ways, he has been gearing up for this moment for quite some time. He has been a member of Washington's front office since 2014. Before that, he served in a similar role for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He has also been a coach, so Williams truly has the ability to see the game from a wide array of angles.
A Redskins legend
No matter what Williams does in this next portion of his career, it will likely pale in comparison to what he has done before. He led Washington to a victory in Super Bowl XXII, one of just three Super Bowl titles won by the team.
He threw four touchdowns in a single quarter, becoming the first player to ever do so on that stage. He also became the first African-American quarterback to start and lead a team to an NFL championship.
He is determined to prove that he earned this position on his own post-playing career merit, though. Williams claims to love the work of evaluation, and he better, now that he's the third-ranking executive in the entire organization.
Washington has a lot of work to do on the player personnel side of things, including improving the wide receiver position and determining whether or not they will sign franchise quarterback Kirk Cousins to a long-term contract extension before he hits unrestricted free agency following the conclusion of this season.
