The Buccaneers are moving on from Byron Leftwich. The team’s offensive coordinator of the past four years will not return in 2023, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud.
In addition to Leftwich’s dismissal, Stroud points to other changes. As many as five offensive staffers and multiple defensive assistants will not be back next season. This follows a season in which the Bucs’ offense declined considerably after two strong years with Tom Brady. The changes came to pass after a Todd Bowles meeting with GM Jason Licht and Bucs ownership, per Stroud.
This news comes a year after Leftwich, 43, was on the HC carousel. The Jaguars interviewed their former quarterback twice in January 2022, but Leftwich removed his name from consideration for the job. Jacksonville ended up hiring Doug Pederson and is now in the divisional round. Leftwich’s fourth Bucs offense dropped from second in 2021 to 25th this season.
In December, a report emerged indicating Brady and Leftwich were not seeing eye-to-eye, and a recent report noted a Brady 2023 return could well be contingent on Leftwich’s dismissal. Many connected Brady to Bruce Arians‘ exit as well, though Arians has repeatedly denied he was forced out. While Brady’s Tampa future is up in the air, Bowles will search for his own offensive coordinator. Bowles’ seat warmed after the Bucs’ 8-9 finish and blowout loss to the Cowboys in the wild-card round, and he will tie his future to a handpicked OC.
A name to watch is Georgia OC Todd Monken, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Monken has a history with the Bucs, having been on staff from 2016-18, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com adds (via Twitter) he has generated interest from teams.
The Bucs moved on from Monken upon firing Dirk Koetter after the 2018 season, leading Monken to Cleveland and the Arians-Leftwich tandem to Tampa. Monken has been Georgia’s OC since 2020, and his tenure has overlapped with the greatest stretch in the program’s history. The Bulldogs have won back-to-back national championships, the most recent being cemented via a 65-7 rout of TCU. Monken’s 2018 Bucs season also included Ryan Fitzpatrick posting a 9.6 yards-per-attempt figure, which still ranks in the top 10 all time.
Leftwich earned a second chance as an OC following a dismal 2018, which featured the Cardinals’ first post-Arians season end with a 3-13 record and the team ranking last offensively. Arians, who had retired following the 2017 slate, brought Leftwich to Tampa and installed him as the Bucs’ play-caller. Jameis Winston‘s historically high-variance 2019 season gave way to Brady in 2020. After a rocky start, the legendary QB drove the Bucs to a top-three ranking on offense that year. Leftwich collected a Super Bowl ring that season, and Brady led the NFL in touchdown passes and passing yards in 2021. Tampa Bay’s final Winston-led offense also ranked in the top seven in both points and yards, which should reflect well on Leftwich. But this season brought an undeniable blow to his value.
The Bucs ranked last across the board in rushing this season, despite the team re-signing Leonard Fournette on a three-year deal worth $21MM. Offensive line issues plagued the team, and Brady’s QBR fell from second in 2021 to 18th in 2022. The Bucs’ 198 fewer points from 2021-22 doubles as the second-steepest decline in NFL history, behind only the Falcons’ freefall from 1973-74 (h/t Fox Sports’ Greg Auman). Although Brady threw for 351 yards in Tampa Bay’s woeful wild-card performance, he struggled throughout and did not confirm anything about his 2023 plans postgame. The 45-year-old passer has been connected to retiring again, playing for the Bucs in 2023 or playing elsewhere. More Brady-dominated news cycles are coming, but Leftwich will be on the lookout for his next gig by that point.
Leftwich’s Winston offense outperforming Monken’s Winston work should work in the former’s favor, though some of Winston and Brady’s Tampa production will undoubtedly be attributed to Arians. Leftwich, a former Jags top-10 pick, entered coaching in 2016 as an Arians intern but rose to the OC level by 2018, when the Cardinals fired Mike McCoy in-season.
I am shocked. Shocked! Well, not that shocked.
Last year, there was talk Tom & Bryon worked to put together game plans, only to have them changed by Bruce. Bruce then retired. And this season the OC is out? Odd set of circumstances for the Bucs.
well obviously Bruce was right
and that Cowboys game was awful. pretty clear Byron shouldn’t be anyone’s OC
No argument? But why did Tom complain about it last year and run off Bruce?
We all know why. Bradys ego couldnt stand that Arians was getting any credit for the success of the offense so he had to have Arians ousted to have it all to himself. Now that things didnt go quite according to plan, Leftwich is the fall guy because the same guy who wanted credit for all its successes, couldnt possibly have anything to do with all its faults.
Brady did not get time to pass because of a very bad offensive line. The OC did not adjust. The ;D; gave up to many big plays at the wrong time.
Oh yea, it’s OC’s Fault that the QB throws bad INT’s all year, after calling plays for the last 4 yrs and offense being top 3. You sound like you know what you’re talking about
Something went wrong this season. A combo of new HC, Tom, play calling; everyone can speculate.
calm down Byron.
I’m being objective
“He shouldn’t be anyone’s OC” is being objective? Just say so have no idea what you’re talking about and move on, DUDE
Mercy termination.
When he had such success over the previous handful of years, he was a genius, a guy worthy of head coaching consideration
Suddenly this year, Bucs fans are happy to see him go.
Coaching is a tough gig
Without Arians, he was helpless. Yes, Bucs fans are pleased, but more importantly, wondering who’s next?
Scapegoat
Not really. Have you seen their offense? Can’t fire everyone.
Have you seen there QB? Top 3 offense last 3 years, so sure blame it on the offense and not the guys who turns the ball over often
We’ve now seen what happens when Brady doesn’t have a top quality coach. Brady did not make Bilicheck
Nothing about the offense suffering from Lurch Bwady’s diminishing physical abilities?
Yeah, something tells me Leftwich will resurface successfully somewhere soon. I mean, is it possible Brady was bad this year because he’s old and the OL had worse talent that ended up getting injured, stifling the running game and a completely immobile QB?
The Bucs just aren’t as good as they were a couple seasons ago.
About Time ! Now fire the head coach as well
To fire? Will fire? Have fired? Which is it?
I don’t even consider 2020 a real football season. No fans, piped in crowd noise, masked coaches, quarantines, as the great Ricky Watters said; “For who, for what?”…
The NFL does, so it doesn’t really matter what us fans think.
Amazing how he went from hot HC candidate to fired in just a few years.
The man can coach, this year was rough. A completely revamped OL isn’t going to help anyone. They lost Gronk who was a nightmare.
Yep a good OC should figure out ways around it but DCs jobs are a lot easier when you have that OL and no Gronk to worry about
“We fully planned to keep Matt Canada but when the opportunity to bring Byron Leftwich back to the black and gold, we couldn’t pass it up.”
It’s that easy, Steelers.
Do it.
They had to already know this was coming and kept Canada anyway. I doubt many firings are a case of the coach being notified just as media finds out at the same time
This is typical Steelers stubbornness. Nothing more
We’ve seen enough of Canada to know he’s in over his head
Turning down that Jacksonville job was a bad mistake and I felt that way at the time. Black coaches don’t get those kind of opportunities often. Now he may never get another opportunity.
I want him for the Jets
So, it turns out Bruce Arians is a better coach than Tom Brady. No real surprise. Classic case of betting on the wrong horse by Bucs management. In the end it won’t matter much. Brady and Arians were both at the end of their careers. It will be interesting to see if Bowles can reward Arians’ faith and turn it around. Will also be interesting to see if Leftwich can make it work somewhere else.
Yep, these coaches were great under Arians, but now need changed? How about the HC who could not adapt to Offensive line problems.
Offensive line injuries you mean? You think good offensive linemen just fall off a tree?
When you lose to a 1-7 team and then a slightly better team the following week you are doing something wrong.
And planning is part of the game, adapting.
Such obvious racism. Shocking coming out of Florida.
Your a dumb ass. I love Byron. Since Marshall. But someone had to get fired.And if it was Bowles it would have been another racist firing. Byron’s offense sucked this year. But I’m sure he will get another gig.