No Thank You, Byron
January 11th, 2010
Joe had to chuckle reading Byron Leftwich’s comments to the Mad Twitter, of the St. Pete Times.
It seems the veteran is eager to return to the Bucs and his gig as overpaid mentor-in-chief to Josh Freeman.
He still was around One Buc every day to counsel Freeman and others. Remember, he was voted a team captain. But Leftwich has a $3.5 million roster bonus due in March, which the Bucs won’t pay.
But if something can be worked out, Leftwich said he would like to remain in Tampa Bay.
“I love being a part of this organization. I love playing for (coach Raheem Morris). But right now isn’t the time to answer that. It’s a time for everybody to go catch their breath. This was not really a good year for anybody.
“I wish I could’ve had more opportunities. I didn’t. This is Josh Freeman’s team. I’ve been around. I understand how it works, so I won’t say too much about anything. But I’m prepared for everything.”
Joe sees no value in Leftwich wearing pewter and red.
What of significance could he still have left to teach Freeman?
It’s time for the Bucs to move on to a more experienced, mechanics-focused mentor who can really challenge Freeman on all levels.
January 11th, 2010 at 11:07 am
The signing of Slugwich was one of the worse decision made last season. Why would they want to repeat that mistake?
January 11th, 2010 at 11:37 am
another one of Mark – Dum inick great ideas just like clayton – nugent – crowell – ward – so on and so on
January 11th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
@jay
I actually liked the Crowell signing, though I do agree that the contracts given to a few other players (Leftwich among them) was not money well spent. If Crowell hadn’t torn his biceps I think he would have made an impact this year, as he was very productive while in Buffalo. He’s stated he’d like to return, so we’ll see.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Are you kidding me?? This guy has the best quotes ever, and as reporters I’m sure that you’d want im around.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
who do you want for a backup Leftwich or Johnson?
January 11th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@bucfanlostiniowa
I’d rather see Batch, Grossman, Pennington or Carr at #2 and keep Johnson at #3 to give him more time to mature.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
We might have had the worst line up of team captains in the history of the NFl. It was a surprise we won any games.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Byron-Go back to your Tiger Woods skits on SNL. Thanks. But no thanks.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Never should have signed this guy in the first place. What’s he going to teach freeman? How to have a ridiculously slow release and underachieve? We’d be a much better team if we had just kept McCown, Freeman, and Johnson this year. Freeman would have had alot more reps in OTAs, Camp, preseason, and the first half of the season. Plus, McCown is a solid back up and was always better than Slugwich.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
@JDouble,
While I do agree that Leftwich isn’t the best QB, I do think part of the reason in bringing him in was simply as a mentor to Freeman. While there was the whole “smokescreen” theory right before the draft, I think the team knew they were going to draft Freeman and felt he could relate to Leftwich. He was a high draft choice, played early in his rookie year, and had plenty of starting experience. While I don’t like him as a QB, there were plenty of things he could teach both Josh’s this past season from his past experiences. I do think the whole “competition” was a waste though, as I think they were already sold on Leftwich once they signed him. Freeman definitely could have used those reps.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
He has such a great smile…reminds me of Magic Johnson. 3.5 mil seems cheap to have somebody hang around the locker room with his magnetism.
January 11th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Maybe he should mentor Josh Johnson how to be a career backup??? He could teach Freeman to stare at recievers oh he already learned that! Oh yea stand there and get hit .
January 11th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I actually didn’t think Leftwich did that bad. He led the Bucs offense to their 2nd and 3rd best point totals of the season (subtract def/St TDs). When he gets time in the pocket, he throws a nice ball. Leftwich has a winning record in the NFL. The guy is not a loser. I don’t get how he’s that bad. Yes he does deliver the ball a bit too slowly. That is a problem. 3.5 mil is too much to keep him around. If he accepts a lower salary, I am all for him being the backup.
I would take Leftwich over many of the others mentioned here. I can’t believe people would want David Carr to be a backup. The guy is awful. Grossman-No no no. Batch-No. Chad P. wouldn’t be bad, but his arm strength sucks. And he’s a bit injury prone.
Agree Jay with your comments on Mark D and his contracts. Those were 4 bad ones. 3 players that just sucked and 1 player who had missed the previous entire season (surprise, he got hurt again).
January 11th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
If we are going to talk back ups I would prefer Culpepper. Similar style to Freeman, big arm, more mobile than top end fast, big men and both seem to be pretty good guys. Add to that Culpepper is from Ocala, may enjoy coming back home. Should be able to get him for less than 3.5m we got into Lefty but my guess is that Lefty is coming back, iff Morris is around. Rah seems enamored with the guy.