Byron Leftwich to David Garrard, the end is the begining...

by River City Rage on Aug 31, 2007 11:28 PM EDT in Jacksonville Jaguars News

Goodbye my friend, till we see you again

I never expected an era to end in Jacksonville today. While my obsession with the Jaguars borders on the obsessive, I never seriously considered the idea that we'd cast Byron aside and move on to the David Garrard era, yet here we are.

Jack Del Rio's tenure as coach with the Jaguars is tied with Byron's. Every decision he makes as a coach is measured by his relationship with his quarterback. From his selection to his release, Coach Del Rio's future depends on how his decisions with Byron play out on the field.

Let's get our facts straight.

Byron Leftwich, since his anointment as starting quarterback, has looked poor.

David Garrard, against second string defenses, has looked excellent.

Byron Leftwich, in regular season games, plays hard, with heart, and through injury until relieved by his coach.

David Garrard, in regular season games, can best be described as moments of brilliance followed by overwhelming disaster (see Tennessee)

What do the facts tell me? That we've got a new era in Jacksonville. But this era, in my not so expert opinion, is that we're gambling. Not like some teams do with aged veterans brought in to win now, but gambling that David can spark life into an offense that is simply sagging. If starting David gives us that jolt that puts the missing piece into our offense, then I'm all for it.

And maybe the signs were there all along. Perhaps it's not the fault of our first round picks in the receiving corps have fallen short of expectations, but rather that Byron just was the wrong man for the job.

Returning to Jack Del Rio for a moment, let's not forget that he's tied his future into his quaterback, whomever that may be. If Byron goes somewhere else and excells, or if David falters, or if Brady Quinn explodes, Jack, and probably Shack Harris are gone. Of course, without sounding like chicken little, I could speculate that the teams future could be tied in with this "all in" moment, but I really loathe poker metaphors.

All my nonsense aside, let's take a peek as to what the rest of the world is saying about this move.

Our friends over at Jaguars Journal clearly get it. They say:

We at JagNation understand the switch, but question the timing. If they were going to move on with Garrard, the move should have been made back in February. That would've given Garrard time to adjust to playing with the number ones, and a much greater opportunity to get compensation for Leftwich.

They address an awesome point. There is no chance in hell we get anything for Byron. Why in the word would any team give ANYTHING up for a guy who has to be released as soon as earthly possible. Especially with Byron's 5 million dollar contract this season. Any team to trade for Byron would have to re-do the deal before the trade, and Byron can simply choose to take the hard road and refuse renegotiating. That way he gets maximum value by hitting the free agent market.

Jaguars.com's Vic Ketchman explains the process behind the switch:

Let's start with the OTA's. They were not good until the last few. I distinctly remember a Tuesday practice late in OTA's that was especially horrible. The next day, Jack Del Rio volunteered interest in Daunte Culpepper. That was the first tip. OTA's ended with a couple of good practices, however, and then training camp started with some real optimism, but in the second full week of camp, David Garrard made his move. I wrote about it and I was ridiculed for my views. I tried to tell everyone that I wasn't playing talent evaluator, just reporter, but I was rebuffed as an old hack the game had passed by. All of that's correct, of course, but even an old hack could see that Garrard was on fire. Then the preseason games began and Garrard continued to pour it on. In the pregame radio show in Green Bay, I said Byron and the offense were facing a big game. I knew the situation had reached a crossroads. How big was that game? Well, it cost Byron his starting job and a big salary.

I'm suffering from retrospect here, but yeah, I'll concede that the signs were clearly there.

Pro Football Talk for whatever you think they're worth, take the angle that this is part of a battle between James Harris and Del Rio. I'm not much on the internal power struggles within the team, mainly because all we can really do is speculate. I'll leave the speculation to the speculums.

Me, I'm OK with what Jack said:

"Over the last five years, Byron was given every opportunity to lead this football team," Del Rio said. "We've gone through the entire offseason, training camp, preseason, and during that time, it became very apparent to me that David was the best choice for us, the best selection for us to lead this football team."

While I might take issue with the idea that Byron's had every chance to lead the team, I think Byron's had a fair chance to win the starting job. Not to compare Mark Brunell to John Elway, but whoever followed Mark would face an uphill battle to win the hearts and minds of the city. And while that dosen't really matter in the scheme of winning games, it's something that must have merited at least a little consideration.

That being said, there is NO way we make a play for Mark Brunell, unless he's going to retire as a Jaguar (i.e. one day contract).

Clearly, we're going to talk about this decision for a long time. This is one of the most important days in the short history of our team. The consequences of this decsion, for better or for worse, will be felt for years.

I hope they're right.

-Chris

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The right move

Hey Chris,
First of all thanks for having this site and giving me the opportunity to vent. Now on to the big decision.
Leftwich was in the last year of his contract. A whopping 5 mil and change for a guy who hasn't proven himself and/or proven he could stay healthy. These 2 things everyone can agree upon. There is a 3rd thing involving Byron and only Byron i think that was also a key factor. Do you remember when Byron was interviewed at the Derby and was hanging around Strahan and others? By itself it isn't a big deal but considering he had yet to address being named the starter in Jacksonville and yet he was big timing it, for whatever reason it didn't sit well. In a recent interview with Peter King he stated he was ready to be considered one of the better QBs in the league, that he wanted HIS name talked about with the other elite QBs in the league. Is this a bad thing? Maybe not but one could interpret that as being more about Byron and less about TEAM. When Byron finally spoke about being named the starter he was often "of course, naturally" although, again, was it really that obvious. To perhaps strengthin this arguement Peter King also reported in today's addition of Monday Morning QB that when he asked a member of Leftwich's confidants how Byron felt about being released he said "Euphoric". Doesn't this sound as if the reason Byron wasn't successful here is because he COULDN'T be successful here. Although many Jacksonville fans neve gave him a chance the coaches certainly did. "Euphoric" suggests it's not me, it's you, so perhaps this release hasn't changed his perspective; and that perspective more times than not appears like he felt he was BIG TIME, after all the pub at Marshall and being drafted so high. The contrast of Garrard's team first humble attitude as opposed to Byron's me first, should be my job, approach wouldn't have mattered if he were no doubt the guy for the job. But when 2 guys are so close statiscally, one cost 2 mil and one cost 5 mil, one is under contract through 08 and one 07 and finally the extreme difference in performance this pre-season, the decision was somewhat obvious or logical.

I agree with Jack that this decision was based more on David than it was on Byron. David earned the right to start, Byron had not. Byron was given the job and throughout the pre-season it remained his job. So in truth, David won a job that really wasn't open for competition. When one player so outperforms another to win a job that wasn't available, that speaks volumes as to Jack's statement that the best players play.

Quick somewhat unrelated rant:
You hear Prisco state on the radio and in print that this was a huge mistake. What else is he going to say? He's dissed David and propped Byron from day one and we all know from listening to Pete that for him to change his mind, it takes a lot more than just facts and results. A lot of people see only what they want to see, Pete sees only things that support Pete's opinions. 5 things could happen that might challenge his opinion but it only takes one to validate it and for him to say, "I told you so!" All I'm saying is, Pete has many NFL sources, which for information can be good, but if Pete says water is dry, by golly its dry and always will be.

Back to David. I find it ironic that the game in which David had by far his worst outing; the game that had as much to do with the coaches deciding to name Byron the starter prior to this season, the Tennessee game, is the team he plays first this year after being named the starter. He'll be nervous. Whereas he had no pressure during the pre-season, now he has all the pressure of validating his coaches faith in him and proving to himself, the team and the fans that he should be THE GUY. Could it be any more compelling?

I have my tickets.

by mashed40 on Sep 3, 2007 10:52 AM EDT reply actions

THE BIG DECISION

this decision has many underlying reason for happening other than the play of the QBs. think about it logically, Garrard was playing against 2nd and 3rd string players and looked good. what does that have to do with being the starter. when he stepped in for Leftwich last year he started good and then collapsed the last 3 games of the season.

the main reason for this was TICKET SALES!!!! the front office and coaching staff figured to try and jump start ticket sales. i have from a reliable source that Weaver has been offered 800 Million for the Jags. if the ticket sales don`t become better the Jags may not play here in 2008 according to these rumors. that being the case do you think new owners will keep anyone in the front office? i doubt it. this is to try and save their jobs and get to the playoffs which i believe will actually secure a crash this year.

it is easier for the new owners to not only get new coaches and front office people but with no true number 1 QB on the roster they can impose their vision for the new franchise and get their QB of the future. a big selling point because the new owners won't have to suffer any financial loss by letting a high dollar number 1 go to establish a new identity for the franchise.

i believe that all of this, and the way it was handled shows a team in turmoil and it all starts in the front officeand coaching staff. 9i hope i am wrong and my source is wrong but i don`t think i am.

Leftwich is the MAN.

by bobbyrachjr on Sep 5, 2007 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions