Doug Williams Promoted To Senior Advisor To Washington Commanders’ General Manager

Former Washington Redskins (now Commanders) quarterback Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl, has been promoted to senior advisor to the general manager of the Washington Commanders. In his new role, Williams will be working alongside Commanders General Manager Adam Peters.

Williams has been involved with the organization for the past 10 years after bringing a championship to the organization in 1987.

“It feels good to

forwp-incontent-custom-banner ampforwp-incontent-ad1"> be around people who respect you,” Williams told Sports Illustrated‘s HBCU Legends. “This is a great regime in Washington.”

Williams started working with the Washington in 2014 when he took on the team’s personnel executive role. From 2017 to 2019, he was the senior vice president of player personnel and was promoted to senior vice president of player development in 2020. Jason Wright, the Commanders team president, promoted him to be his senior advisor in 2021.

After playing his college ball at Grambling State, he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 17th overall pick in the 1978 NFL Draft. That selection made him the first Black quarterback taken in the first round of the modern-day NFL draft.

Williams led the Bucs to the 1979 NFC Championship Game but after the 1982 season, he sat out a season after failed contract negotiations. He joined the USFL for two seasons before being brought back to the NFL to join Washington in 1986.

Williams is a member of the Washington Ring of Fame and Tampa Bay Ring of Honor. He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Washington, D.C. Hall of Fame, and Black College Football Hall of Fame. He co-founded the Black College Football Hall of Fame with James “Shack” Harris in 2009. In 2022, the HBCU and NFL legends also founded the HBCU Legacy Bowl.

Williams also coached at Morehouse College and Grambling State University. Under Williams’ leadership, Grambling State won two straight Black college football national championships in 2000 and 2001. His teams won four SWAC championships (2000–2002, 2011), and he was named the SWAC Coach of the Year (2000-2002) for three straight years.

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