Byron Leftwich Weighs in on Interview Process With Jaguars
When the Jacksonville Jaguars ended their month-long search for a head coach and hired Doug Pederson on Feb. 3, they ended a process that seemingly had its fair share of twists and turns.
One of the most popular names during those twists and turns was former Jaguars quarterback and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who at one point was rumored to be the favorite for the job.
Leftwich and Jacksonville never came together as a pairing, however, and the Jaguars tabbed Pederson as their leader in the post-Urban Meyer era. And on Tuesday, Leftwich spoke for the first time in public on the process and ultimately not landing the Jaguars job.
"I really don't have no thoughts about the process. I was the coordinator here, and I'm still the coordinator here so that's really how I view it," Leftwich said during a Buccaneers' offseason press conference, via Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud.
"I know there was a lot said, a lot put out there. Obviously that didn't work out. I'm just happy to be here, happy to be here with the group, going into our fourth year together. Can't wait to get to work with these guys."
Leftwich spent four seasons with the Jaguars after being selected in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft. Leftwich's tenure with the Jaguars was a short one that ended in him being replaced at quarterback by David Garrard, but Leftwich made a strong impression on teammates both in and outside of Jacksonville throughout his playing career.
After a playing career that saw him spend time with the Falcons, Buccaneers, and Steelers, Leftwich was hired by Arians during the 2016 training camp to assist with coaching the Cardinals' quarterbacks, before eventually being hired as the team's full-time quarterbacks coach the next year. Leftwich was retained in his role by new head coach Steve Wilks in 2018, eventually being promoted to interim offensive coordinator following the firing of Mike McCoy.
After Wilks was fired following the 2018 season, Leftwich again reunited with Arians as Arians became the head coach of the Buccaneers after a year away from coaching. Leftwich was named Arians' offensive coordinator and was given play-calling duties.
Leftwich remained in his role the next two seasons as Winston was replaced by Tom Brady, with Brady going on to break all of the offensive records Winston set the year before as Tampa Bay marched toward a Super Bowl title.
Leftwich was among a handful of coaches who got a second interview with the Jaguars, and there were even reports the Jaguars were leaning toward Leftwich -- including one report Mike Jurecki of AZCardinals.com, who said the Jaguars were close to hiring Leftwich as head coach and Cardinals exec Adrian Wilson as general manager.
Nothing ever transpired on the Leftwich front, however. Leftwich pulled his name out of consideration for the job shortly before Pederson was reported to be the Jaguars' choice, and Pederson was announced as the team's head coach several days later. Trent Baalke remained as general manager, and Baalke and Pederson have led the Jaguars every day since.
"No. I think we never got to the point of having them talk to our players at that point," Jaguars owner Shad Khan said at Pederson's introductory press conference in February when asked if the Jaguars ever offered the job to another candidate -- which, in this case, would have been Leftwich.
"We had a process. We ran the process, and we had great candidates, but Doug is our guy. During the time, we interviewed over ten candidates. Some of them -- I mean, that really tells you the pool of candidates we had -- got other jobs, and that was great.
But for me, this had to be exhaustive, but it had to be the right one. Some of the things that were really unique and different for me was to really get the insights of our players and insights of the alumni players. So they were -- part of it, it took a little bit longer, but we wanted to get their insight who we were talking to and then allowed them an opportunity, obviously, to talk to some of the finalists."
