Todd Bowles: I think the world of Byron Leftwich

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There was a time earlier this offseason when it appeared Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was about to become the Jaguars head coach.

That didn’t work out, as Doug Pederson got the job working with G.M. Trent Baalke. But it means that Leftwich will be back with Tampa Bay in 2022, now working under new head coach Todd Bowles to run the Bucs’ offense.

On Thursday, Bowles described just how glad he is to have Leftwich continue with the franchise — knowing that there’s a chance this year could be Leftwich’s springboard to another job.

“I think Byron does a great job,” Bowles said, via Greg Auman of TheAthletic.com. “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. And 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.

“But I’m ecstatic to have him back. I know he knows how I feel about him. I think the world of him. And we’ve got a lot of coaches on the staff who feel the same way and a lot that I think very highly of, so I can’t wait to get to work.”

A former Jaguars first-round pick in 2003, Leftwich got his NFL coaching career going with the Cardinals under Bruce Arians in 2016. He was the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2017 and became the interim offensive coordinator in 2018. When Arians got back in the NFL with the Buccaneers in 2019, he hired Leftwich to be Tampa Bay’s offensive play-caller.