Byron Leftwich has been out of coaching since he was fired by the Buccaneers in 2022.
The Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator search is heating up.
CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reported on Friday that former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich, who was most recently offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been interviewed by Seattle.
The Seahawks recently interviewed former Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich for their vacant offensive coordinator position, sources tell @NFLonCBS. Leftwich interviewed earlier this month for the Patriots head coaching job as he eyes a return to the NFL.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 17, 2025
Leftwich joins Minnesota Vikings assistant OC Grant Udinski, Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley, New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and Chicago Bears OC/interim head coach Thomas Brown on the list of candidates.
After roughly a decade in the NFL as a quarterback, Leftwich became a coach under Bruce Arians when he was with the Arizona Cardinals. He eventually made his way up to interim offensive coordinator in 2018 under head coach Steve Wilks, then reunited with Arians in 2019 when Bruce took the Buccaneers head coaching job. Leftwich spent four seasons as offensive coordinator, of which the last three were with Tom Brady, and his first was the famous Jameis Winston 33 touchdown/30 interception season.
In Leftwich’s first season, the Buccaneers were 20th in offensive DVOA, but improved to 3rd when they won the Super Bowl with Brady. They ascended to the top of the table in 2021, only for a sharp decline down to 18th in 2022, with a good rushing attack plummeting to 29th. Tom Brady threw over 700 passes in each of his final two seasons in Tampa, although the 2022 season was functionally out of necessity due to a lack of a running game. Tampa Bay also infrequently used play action that year.
Despite his early successes in Tampa Bay, Leftwich has been surprisingly on the sidelines over the past two seasons. He interviewed for the New England Patriots head coaching vacancy earlier this month, but that was an obvious Rooney Rule requirement interview for a job that was always going to go to Mike Vrabel.
Leftwich is the first Seahawks OC candidate who’s currently not under contract with another team.