Byron Leftwich
 

QB Byron Leftwich to be cut or traded.

A somewhat surprise, and unexpected announcement.

More news to come.

from espn.com:

Updated: August 31, 2007, 4:49 PM ET
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The Jacksonville Jaguars will name David Garrard their starting quarterback for the 2007 season on Friday, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported.



Garrard

Leftwich

Team and league sources said that former starter Byron Leftwich will likely be traded or released.

Leftwich missed 15 games the last two seasons because of an injured left ankle. He had surgery last November, more than a month after coach Jack Del Rio benched him in favor of Garrard.

The Jaguars have been actively calling teams around the league to gauge interest in Leftwich, who is in the last year of his contract. He had been designated as the starter in the offseason by Del Rio.

Team sources said Garrard's continued development in training camp and preseason convinced Del Rio that Garrard was the right quarterback for the team.

The Jaguars are also trying to acquire a veteran quarterback to serve as a backup and may turn to former Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell.

Garrard went 145-of-241 for 1,735 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season, with a passer rating of 80.5.

Leftwich was 108-of-183 for 1,159 yards, seven TDs and five interceptions last season, with a passer rating of 79.0.

Wow, I wouldn't mind if the Vikings made a move for him.

Ping: Falcons

I've always thought the Lions should try to trade for him but doubt they would.

Wander if the Raiders are a possibility, or Falcons?

You beat me!

Could a move to boost ticket sales, as majority of fans here want to see Garrard.

Bottom line:

Money


As they say: Not For Long

The problem is, with the season about to start, there are several teams that could use a good starting QB.

All Leftwich could do for the Lions, Falcons, Raiders, et. al. is give them N+1 backup quarterbacks, of which they already possess a surfeit.

Garrard will go from the team's most popular player to just as hated as Leftwich was by midseason.

+1

No, he'll be beloved as he is the QB majority of the fans here want to see.

Nobody here wants to see a bumbling, fumbling, clod of a QB play.

Garrard brings the style of football that is needed in today's day and age.

He'll be a much better fit in the style of play that the Jags want to play.

The backup QB is often the most popular guy on the team. In most cases, when they get their chance they show exactly why they were backups to begin with.

The Jags haven't had a weapon at receiver since Jimmy Smith retired. Its not going to be any different this year. Garrard will quiet the fans until they realize he's no better than Leftwich is.

As for style of football this day and age, it depends on the offense and talent around the QB more than anything else. Tom Brady has one of the higher fumble rates in the NFL and was the slowest clocked QB in the history of the combine, but he's doing pretty well in New England.

Careful, Atocep, shit like that will get ya killed round here.

Is it true? Is Brady really that slow?

*SIGH*

Being a Jaguars fan, and seeing how this went down and the timing of it.

The memory of the draft and passing on Quinn and passing on Culpepper as well.

I see a rough year ahead for the Jags. I wonder how team morale is now??

Oh well, dont need to get the NFL package now, LOL

I sure hope Peyton Manning has been working this offseason to adapt to this style that is needed today.

1) I really thought Leftwich would develop into a star. I was wrong on a lot of levels. I think he can still be a very good QB in the right system with the right coaching staff, but he'll never be Carson Palmer.

2) I don't quite understand the "fumblind" thing with Leftwich. He's fumbled the ball 4 times in his NFL career, and lost 2 of those. Both lost fumbles came in his rookie season. He hasn't lost a fumble in over three years. Garrard has fumbled 4 times in his career, losing 3 of those in far fewer snaps.

3) I guess it's ok to like some of the things Garrard does, but the reality is he's worse than Leftwich. Their ratings are almost equal, but Garrard turns the ball over at a higher clip. Garrard is sa 29 year old with a little over 500 career attempts. This is the equivilent of what the Broncos are doing with Jay Cutler. . . but Plummer sucked worse than Leftwich and Cutler has far more potential than Garrard.

4) IMHO, this will be disasterous for Jacksonville and will be the move that gets DelRio fired. He never trusted Leftwich. That's fine. But you get a better QB in the offseason. You don't make this move right now. In my mind Jacksonville just went from a 10 win team to an 8 win team. The league has plenty of Garrard to look at now and will adjust accordingly. As the above poster stated, Garrard will be hated as badly as Leftwich was in a matter of weeks. (I don't even think it'll get to week 8)

5) Nobody is trading anything for a guy with a 5 million dollar salary and a one year contract. Again, the time just sucks for Jax. Unless two teams get into a bidding war, Leftwich will be a FA and will sign with Minnesota or Atlanta IMHO.

Would love to see Seattle somehow swoop in and pick him up on a one or two year deal. Would give them the backup to use Wallace in a lot of other capacities and let them finally get rid of Greene (though I think that might be happening anyway).

Pipe dream likely, but I'd love to see it.

From what I can tell, I think its the right move, Leftwich is done. I don't think Garrard is great shakes, but Leftwich doesn't have anything left. You can't expect him to play more than 8 games or so.

Did Jared Lorenzen get lost on the way to his testing?

They probably put the buffet 40 yards away from him and then timed him.

I think that was up until Brady went through the combine. I'd assume his mark has been beaten since then.

Didn't the Jaguars say these exact same things when they drafted Leftwich?

Technically, yes, but it's misleading. He took a break halfway through his run to impregnate a woman who wandered too close to the field.

Actually, Brady has the slowest clocked time of any QB in the 40 who finished. Lorenzen is still working his way to the finish line and should get there around December '09.

Paging Carl Peterson. Mr. Peterson, please pick up the red courtesy phone.

I think Brian Cashman is inking Leftwich to a deal right now.

The Colts have had a pretty horrible offseason in terms of FA and injuries, but with TEN doing nothing to take a step forward and now JAX making this boneheaded move I guess IND is a lock to win the division again.

The Dolphin's will trade a 2nd round pick for him.

I dont think -300 is a lock, but if you can wait until February to get paid.

Who will Win the AFC South?
441 Indianapolis Colts -302
442 Tennessee Titans +1487
443 Jacksonville Jaguars +332
444 Houston Texans +2190

Taking Virginia Tech on the ML vs. East Carolina is more of a "lock" if you will. 5 grand to win a hunge.

+1, plus he's NEVER HEALTHY!

Funny but true.

He can still juke Urlacher out of his jock.:D

Nope.

Dan Snyder will sneak in and offer a first rounder.

Interesting to see that the oddsmakers and bettors also think that this is an upgrade with Garrard.

Colts to win the division has gone DOWN to -280 and payout to Jax gone down to +315. Of course you can still throw your money away on the Titans at 15/1.