I can imagine teams being lined up at Byron Leftwich’s door after this move.
With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season ending in a 31-14 NFL Super Wild Card Weekend playoff elimination loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the team is now expected to fire its offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, according to Pewter Report.
The Bucs managed to tally 386 offensive yards against the Cowboys. Only 52 of those yards, however, came on the ground, which led Tampa to an 18-0 deficit at halftime. In total, the Buccaneers only scored 14 points in the game after being down 24-0 to Dallas in the third quarter.
Although Tampa Bay put together enough wins to claim the NFC South title, the Bucs had the worst offense in the division, averaging only 18.4 points-per-game in the regular season, which was ranked 25th out of 32 in the entire NFL.
Inheriting Bruce Arians’ coaching staff when he was promoted from defensive coordinator, head coach Todd Bowles (whom I personally blame more for the Buccaneers’ offensive struggles than Leftwich) will be returning to his post in 2023, where he will have the opportunity to pick his own offensive play-caller.
Report: The #Bucs to fire Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich.
The team had plans to fire Leftwich since their Bye week mid-season but Todd Bowles decided to keep him at the time, per @PewterReporthttps://t.co/OBe6W86wo7 pic.twitter.com/TkYzoD3K2Y
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 17, 2023
I can see Byron Leftwich having another job pretty quick, especially considering the firing is a bit unfair.
After the 2020 season when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, Leftwich was in high demand, partaking in loads of job interviews. And from the looks of it, the same thing is going to take place this offseason with him now being unemployed. Some connections are already happening between him and the Pittsburgh Steelers (if they fire current offensive coordinator Matt Canada).
You see what I mean? (RELATED: REPORT: Recently Fired Kliff Kingsbury Takes One-Way Flight To Thailand With Model Girlfriend, Tells Teams He’s Not Interested)
It hasn’t even been a full 24 hours yet and speculation is already starting to swirl about where Leftwich could land his next coaching position. For me, it’s too early to tell, but the Pittsburgh Steelers do look like a good destination for him (mainly from the standpoint that he used to be a quarterback there, he knows the system and ownership, he already knows the city), but again, it’s just way too early to tell.
But one thing is for sure: Byron Leftwich will most certainly have another NFL job, and quickly.