Tampa Bay Buccaneers: What if Hugh Culverhouse paid Doug Williams?

Not too much changes for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the grand scheme of things.

Had Culverhouse decided to pay Williams going into the 1983 season, the Buccaneers certainly do not finish 2-14. Other than Williams, most of the starters from the 1982 season’s playoff team were still sticking around. In 1983 and 1984 with Williams at the helm instead of “The Throwin’ Samoan” Jack Thompson and Steve Deberg, the Buccaneers don’t go 2-14 and 6-10 respectively. The Buccaneers in fact do make the playoffs in these years, but unfortunately not much comes of it as Washington in 1983 and the San Francisco 49ers in 1984 were absolute juggernauts. However, McKay and Williams are still on board the ship entering 1985. Just like in reality, Williams’s play and health start to decline, and by 1989 he’s out of the league, without a Super Bowl to his name. End of story for the Buccaneers right? Not so fast, because this has some effects on their drafts.

Here’s where things get a little interesting for the Buccaneers. Without a dismal 1983 season, they don’t have the first overall pick they would eventually trade to the New England Patriots who take Irving Fryar. For the sake of ease, let’s just assume the Buccaneers still trade out of the first round and the Patriots still trade for Fryar. So why is this significant?

Well, that year the NFL also held a supplemental draft for USFL and CFL players for when the USFL would fold (great foresight). The Buccaneers had the first pick in that draft as well, which turned into Steve Young. With a better 1983 season for the Buccaneers in this reality, they no longer have the slot to take Young, besides, they still have Williams. As a playoff team in this reality, there really wasn’t much there in the supplemental draft for the Buccaneers either that sustained.

By the 1986 and 1987 NFL Drafts, with the Buccaneers not being a laughing stock in this reality, they don’t have the Bo Jackson fiasco or Vinny Testaverde picks either, since they wouldn’t have had the first overall picks in these drafts. They instead wind up with Neal Anderson and Haywood Jeffries to help Williams out, but with his declining play, it doesn’t help too much. So that’s really it for the Buccaneers in this reality, it doesn’t change too much, as the renaissance that came with Tony Dungy, a defense, and a uniform change does still happen, but the ripple effect Culverhouse paying Williams would have on the NFL as a whole, well, that’s a different story.