The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be entering a new era in 2022 under the leadership of Todd Bowles. The former Bucs defensive coordinator and Jets head coach will have his fingerprints all over the defense but being the head coach will also require him to oversee the offensive side of things a bit more.
While Bowles will be more involved with the overall operations of the team, the offense will be offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich’s show, with Tom Brady’s veteran excellence sprinkled in.
In a recent interview on the “Colin Cowherd Show,” Bowles talked about the new Bucs system.
“Byron will have the power, first and foremost, because he’s the OC, and Tom has been in the offense for two years now going on three. So they’ll both collaborate and have a lot of power on offense, when it comes to running the offense. I’ll make the decisions on third- or fourth-and-short, obviously, when they go for it, when not to go for it in, two-minute (situations) and those types of deals and replays and everything. But they’ll pretty much run the offense.”
https://youtu.be/a9nmG8EHSW0
Leftwich Has Proved His Worth The Last Few Years
Over the last few seasons, Leftwich has emerged as one of the young, innovative offensive minds in the game. He rose out of the shadows of former Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, who constantly sang Leftwich’s praises and co-signed his suitability for a head coach job.
Tasked with combining Arians’ aggressive downfield passing attack, and Brady’s short to intermediate passing game, the former Marshall Thundering Herd great did it pretty seamlessly.
In an April interview with TheAthletic.com, Bowles was very high on his offensive coordinator.
“I think Byron does a great job. He was the first one I talked to when I came out of the office. We sat down and had a great talk. Me and Byron get along so well that it’s really unbelievable to just have a guy in place that understands what he’s doing that you trust wholeheartedly.”
Bowles, who has never had this kind of talent at his disposal, continued to praise the young offensive savant.
“I think he’s very good at what he does. And I don’t expect him to be with us long, because if we do what we’re supposed to do this year, he’ll have one [a head coaching job] next year. But I understand the ball bounces differently sometimes.”
Leftwich came really close to becoming the Jacksonville Jaguars new head coach after last season. He played for the Jaguars from 2003-2006. They chose to go with Doug Pederson after the Urban Meyer debacle in 2021. Who knows where quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence would be in his development if Leftwich had gotten his hands on the generational quarterback before Meyer.
Arians Raved About Leftwich Time And Time Again
During his time under former Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, Arians was quick to point out that Leftwich deserved much more credit than he was receiving for the offense.
In fact, in a radio interview with Arizona Sports 98.7FM, he was clear about Leftwich’s role in the construction and execution of an offense that Tom Brady led.
“I get credit and Brady gets way too much credit for what Byron does with our offense. One of the reasons I hope he gets all the credit he deserves this year is to get a coaching gig; you know, he had about four or five teams really interested last year. I would anticipate him to be a head coach real fast.”
So far Leftwich has not secured that head coaching job despite the support. His production as a constructor of offenses speaks for itself based on the numbers and efficiency of the Buccaneers offense the last two seasons. With Leftwich at the helm, sharing strategies with Brady, the league is liable to see one of the most efficient offenses in recent memory.
