Playing nine years in the NFL is impressive and not something many players can say they did. One who can, is former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Byron Leftwich. Leftwich bounced around the NFL throughout his nine year career, but said in an interview with Curtbone TV on YouTube last year that it was the best thing that happened to him.
“Me going to the Steelers is actually the best thing that actually happened to me really in my career because I was at the right space in the right time for all the stuff that happened there that happens for me to take it in and for me to learn from it,” said Leftwich. Obviously when I get there I still want to be a starter, things didn’t go well for me at Jacksonville. Now I’m at Pittsburgh, but now I’m on the team that’s ripe to win the Super Bowl. So now I’m seeing what it looked like, I’m seeing the building, how the coaches operate, how the cooks, how to everything operate within the building, how the owners operate. Because my only experience is with Jacksonville. So now I go from Jacksonville to Pittsburgh, so now I’m gaining a whole different experience. Now I’m watching a building, an organization, really go about really trying to win the Super Bowl.”
Although Leftwich did have a stop with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 before joining the Steelers the next year, it is obvious he really felt a change when he played for Pittsburgh. With QB Ben Roethlisberger coming off the best year of his career at that point in 2007, Leftwich knew he was going to the backup, yet he still saw playing time on multiple occasions for the 2008 Super Bowl-winning team. In five games for the Steelers in 2008, Leftwich went 21-36 with two touchdowns and no interceptions and while also scoring a rushing touchdown.
Pittsburgh clearly left an impression on Leftwich and vice versa as after leaving in free agency in 2009 he returned via trade again in 2010 and then signed with the Steelers again in 2012. While he spent the most years of his career with the Jaguars the years with Pittsburgh were clearly important to him. He started a game for the Steelers in 2012, a 13-10 loss in Week 10 against the Baltimore Ravens. It is also worth noting that Leftwich was coached by Bruce Arians while he was a Steeler and Arians gave Leftwich his first coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals.
Leftwich at this point may be best known for him as a coach. Leftwich was offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl LV and there is a chance he never would have become a successful coach and been on the coaching staff if not for his time in Pittsburgh learning how a successful and stable organization was ran and learning from coaches like Tomlin and Arians.
This past year, there were rumors the Steelers were interested in having Leftwich become the offensive coordinator, replacing Matt Canada. With the hiring of Arthur Smith that obviously did not happen, but it is clear Leftwich would have loved to come back the way he has talked about the Steelers organization and the impact it has had on him.
