Buccaneers All-Time Top 5 QBs: Pioneers, Neat Freaks & Turnover Machines

Tom Brady proves he's the GOMOAT. Doug Williams breaks down barriers. Jameis Winston and Vinny Testaverde play catch with defenders.

Training camp is in full swing, but the All-Time Top 5 QB Series soldiers on! I hope to publish a fresh Top 5 every week in August. After that … we’ll cover NFC West history as best we can while focusing on what’s happening on the field every Sunday.

1. Tom Brady

Brady’s Buccaneers career began at the height of the COVID pandemic, a moment in history when American cities suddenly looked like John Carpenter movie sets, worldwide sports from the NBA down to the rec leagues went dark and even supermarket shelves became ominously barren. Watching Brady swan gracefully through the 2020 offseason, from his signing with the Bucs to his moment of socially-distanced golfing magic …

… must have been like what is was like to watch Fred Astaire dance his way through World War II. Elegance wasn’t dead. Normalcy wasn’t dead. Better days were coming. 

Brady’s signing with the Buccaneers was also desert rain for the sports media. The news carried me through the bleakest part of the pandemic professionally, and therefore emotionally. It made the phone ring. It allowed me to do my job with dignity. And of course, Brady’s first year in Tampa Bay could only end with victory in a Super Bowl, in his new home stadium, which was filled (partially) with fans, which itself felt like an impossibility. Everything about that period in history was day-to-day chaos. Brady? He just changed his shirt, then went on being Brady. 

Brady played just three seasons for the Buccaneers, yet he ranks second on the team’s all-time touchdown list and third in passing yards, just 178 yards out of second place. Only Doug Williams and Trent Dilfer (!?) led the Bucs to more regular-season victories. The Buccaneers have won 12 postseason games in their history; Brady was their starting quarterback for five of them.

Before I ranked Brady first, I asked myself: if Philip Rivers or Matt Ryan signed with the Buccaneers and had the exact same three-year stretch, would I still rank them ahead of Williams and Brad Johnson, or am I just overreacting to Brady’s fame and reputation? My answer: Rivers or Ryan could never have done it. They could not have coaxed Rob Gronkowski out of retirement. They would not have convinced Bruce Arians to essentially hand over the reins of the offense. They would not have been able to rally the Buccaneers defenders to their banner the way Brady did. He may have been an old mercenary, but he was the Greatest Old Mercenary of All Time. Brady’s tenure in Tampa was short, but his shadow will be very long.

2. Doug Williams

Professional football continues to thirst for him, that first black quarterback to be wholly recognized as “great.” From deep in Louisiana, at Eddie Robinson’s remarkable blood ‘n’ bones factory, the nominees keep coming. And with Doug Williams, the coach at Grambling thinks the chance for greatness is taller than ever before.

“We’ve had a lot of boys with great arms, Williams among the strongest of them,” Robinson said, “but he has that added blessing of marvelous timing. He can throw long, medium or short and is consistently able to put the football where he wants it.” – Hubert Mizell, Tampa Bay Times, May 3, 1978.

Williams led the nation in passing yards and touchdowns in his final season at Grambling. Yet the Buccaneers, led by head coach Rich McKay and offensive assistant Joe Gibbs, were the only team to scout him in person. They made Williams the 17th pick in the 1978 draft. 

“Williams was the guy we wanted in the draft and we got him. In our opinion he was the best quarterback in the draft. We felt we had to have him. We are in our third year of a five-year plan and there’s no quarterback coming up next year. We wanted to have a quarterback going into our fifth year.

McKay said he felt that “all things being equal, Williams would have gone higher in the draft.” When asked what he meant by that McKay replied: “I prefer not to say. You are all intelligent people and you can figure it out for yourselves.” – Ron Martz, St. Petersburg Times, May 3, 1978.