We're in that bad, bad part of the year. The part of the year where some teams are still playing, but unfortunately our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not. So to fill the time, I'm recycling something I did for my other site way back before I was part of Buc 'Em. Presenting The Bucs' 10 Best Draft Picks of All-Time.
Feel free to discuss my choices or argue them 'til you're blue in the face. We can take a look back at this list every year and see if any players have cracked the list.
This was actually fairly easy to do because historically the Bucs draft very, VERY poorly. I’m sure if I was a Chicago Bears’ or Dallas Cowboys’ fan, I would have had to cut down the list from 50 prospective players. But for the Bucs, I ended up coming up with the final 10 quickly. Putting them in a good order was the fun part.
The criteria are simple. The player had to be drafted by the Bucs (duh) and be part of this list because of what they did with the team – not what they may have done elsewhere during the career. So sorry, there will be no Bo Jackson.
Here we go...
10. Doug Williams – QB – 1979 – 1st Round (17th Overall)
Doug Williams – drafted out of Grambling State – didn’t have a particularly long career with the Bucs – and is probably better known for winning a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins – but he was the first quarterback to lead the team to the playoffs. From 1979 to 1981, Williams played in every game for Tampa Bay and had a TD-to-INT ratio of 57-54. Not overly impressive, but considering the cast of characters Williams had to throw too, it’s not too bad either. In his five years with the team, the Bucs went to the playoffs three times, including making it to the 1979 NFC Championship game.
After Williams left the team following the 1982 season, Tampa Bay wouldn’t make the playoffs again until 1997. At the time, Williams wanted to remain with the team, but then owner Hugh Culverhouse refused to negotiate with him. For the next 14 seasons the Bucs would lose less than 10 games only once. Good job Hugh!