CARLISLE, Pa. -- Quarterback Doug Williams, making the jump back to the NFL after two seasons in the USFL, says he is elated to be with the Washington Redskins.
One day after the Redskins acquired his rights from0the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Williams agreed to terms and reported to the team's Dickinson College training site Tuesday night. Williams was set to take his physical and sign a three-year contract today.
'I didn't want to get into a situation again with my life where I had to play with a team that was rebuilding and didn't have the team Washington had,' Williams said.
'I'm elated to be here and I just hope that, whatever my role is with the Wasington Redskins, I can do it to the best of my ability.'
Williams, 31, who guided the Buccaneers to the NFC championship game in 1979, said he has accepted his role as a backup.
'Let me get the record straight, Jay Schroeder is the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins -- I know that, coach (Joe) Gibbs knows that and everybody else knows that. I didn't come here to unseat Jay,' he added.
Williams, known for a strong arm and weak knees during a professional career starting in 1978, played five years in the NFL with Tampa Bay before joining the USFL. He spent the 1984 season with the Oklahoma Outlaws and the 1985 season with the Arizona Outlaws.
The Redskins reportedly dealt a fifth-round draft choice to Tampa Bay for the rights to Williams.
Williams said he also contacted the Los Angeles Raiders about the possibility of joining them, but the Raiders did not express any interest.
Williams, who left Tampa Bay in 1982 in a salary dispute, said he did not regret his years in the USFL.
'If there had been total free agency in the NFL I wouldn't have went to the USFL, but under the circumstances, I have no regrets,' he said.
Gibbs, who has maintained a close relationship with Williams, was the offensive coordinator at Tampa during Williams' rookie season in the NFL.
In other developments, the USFL's Baltimore Stars Tuesday blocked the Washington Redskins attempts to sign Kelvin Bryant, refusing to release the star running back from his contract unless he foregoes $400,000 in deferred payments from a $1 million signing bonus he agreed to in 1983, a Redskins source said.
The $1 million signing bonus was part of a five-year pact Bryant, the second all-time leading rusher in the USFL, signed in 1983 when he joined the then-Philadelphia Stars. The Redskins own Bryant's NFL rights and are reportedly on the verge of signing him.
The Redskins source said Stars part-owner Myles Tannenbaum is refusing to release Bryant from the remaining two years of his USFL contract unless he waives his rights to the $400,000 that he has not received from the original signing bonus, part of a financial package that lured the former North Carolina star to the fledgling USFL.
In addition, Clarence Verdin and Ricky Sanders, the wide receiver tandem who starred in the USFL with the Houston Gamblers for two seasons, both agreed to terms Tuesday and will sign contracts Wednesday, General Manager Bobby Beathard said.
The USFL last week suspended its 1986 season and allowed its players freedom to negotiate with NFL teams.
Catching passes from quarterback Jim Kelly, Verdin compiled 100 receptions in two seasons, while Sanders grabbed 149, including 101 in 1984. The Redskins already owned the NFL rights to Verdin and acquired the rights to Sanders by dealing a high round draft choice to the New England Patriots Monday.
