Friday, August 31, 2007

Byron Leftwich

Peter King of SI reports that the Jaguars are done with Byron Leftwich. What the hell happened? After four seasons, you can hardly call Leftwich a bust: his numbers were decent enough to make you think he's a young QB on the rise, and he was the QB of a successful team (winning records in 2004 and 2005). Certainly he has been prone to injury, but he's still a 27 year old QB that might be good. Now his 2007 season is probably worthless. He's not an early draft pick that has flamed out on the football field--he's got game and potential that could have been realized soon, in my opinion.

I really do believe this is bad for the Jags, too. They were actually good in 2006 (on offense 9th in points and 11th in yards, on defense 4th in points and 2nd in yards), but were very inconsistent, and (here's the important thing) David Garrard didn't give them much of a passing game. Maybe Leftwich wouldn't have given the Jags more than Garrard can this season, I don't know. But I really thought the Jaguars were going to be successful this year with Leftwich coming back to a team with a dominant running game and a very good defense. Let me frame it this way: if Leftwich had become available several months ago, I'd have wanted him to be the starting QB for the Vikings. If David Garrard became available several months ago, I'd rather stick with Tarvaris Jackson.

From a fantasy perspective, I'm slightly crushed. Remembering the solid chemistry Leftwich had with Jimmy Smith, I've been jazzed on Matt Jones, thinking Leftwich would boost his numbers. Now Jones is worthless (most people already thought he was worthless, but now they're right).

I always liked that Byron Leftwich: something about a completely immobile quarterback that looks good drilling the ball around pleases me. I saw a lot of really entertaining performances from Leftwich. Hopefully he finds a place to thrive in the future.

6 comments:

  1. Kind of seen that handwriting on the wall with Leftwich but drafted him nonetheless.He is one of my 5 Q.B.s in last FFL.
    Was toying with idea of dropping him last night.But kept him IDW but did.Garrard just didnt interest me,but if Leftwich hits the market I expect either Niners or Oakland to snap him up hopefully the Texans dont sniff.
    Would love to see him in purple and we might yet because I dont think Holcomb is the back up for T.J. but Leftwich would be a nice fit.
    Your right this is a big Blunder by the Jags just hope the Falcons dont decide go for a run, cause Leftwich is the type Q.B. to fit any Offense yesterday.

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  2. I don't get it. Del Rio is a meathead. I wrote on this subject as well. Leftwich has so much more than Garrard. It won't take long for that to show. One big injury to Garrard and you're wondering why Del Rio cut Leftwich or traded him. I just don't understand it. Jax has no insurance policy after Garrard? So why get rid of Byron now? It's not like they can go out and use his cap space to get someone now!?!?!?

    Reminds me so much of when Tim Couch's career was destroyed in Cleveland by another idiot defensive minded coach who played the backup, Kelly Holcomb. We saw how that turned out for one Butch Davis.

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  3. Anonymous6:25 AM

    immobile injury prone quarterbacks who their coaches believe are lazy liars don't last long anymore do they.

    rk

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  4. How is he a liar? Not saying he isn't I just didn't hear that wrinkle in the story.

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  5. I should probably write an introduction for the various regular readers here. RK loves Brett Favre, and thus hates just about every other QB in the league. He'll make many baseless claims about all sorts of QBs throughout the year. He despises Manning and Brady, and thinks Joe Montana is as overrated as anybody could ever be. We love you RK!

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  6. Anonymous7:46 AM

    my belief concerning joe montana aside i doubt you could refute any of what i said: del rio believes leftwich lied to him, believes leftwich loafed after he was handed the job-- leftwich is immobile, gets hit a lot, gets hurt a lot. if he had peyton mannings line maybe he could stand back there and let them fly.

    rk

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