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TYSONS, Va. — Byron Leftwich slips into the Northern Virginia brunch spot unrecognized and unbothered.
Lean and broad-shouldered at 6-foot-5, the former NFL quarterback looks like he could still play even though his 45th birthday looms in a couple of weeks. After a nine-year playing career, Leftwich made a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks. As offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he helped Tom Brady and Bruce Arians on a storybook Super Bowl march to cap the 2020 season. Leftwich was a legitimate head coaching candidate in the winter of 2022.
But time moves quickly, circumstances change and memories fade. So on this chilly morning in the middle of football season, Leftwich is just another guy lost in the hustle and bustle of the DMV.
He has spent the last two football seasons largely shrouded in mystery — once a virtual lock to lead his own team, then fired, then off the grid. And thanks to his relatively solitary nature, Leftwich’s goals and whereabouts have remained murky.
Influential NFL figures tried to maintain contact with Leftwich to keep him on the radar, but they say their messages and calls went unanswered. Former colleagues relayed conflicting accounts: Some said he was on shortlists for a handful of college jobs; others reported he had largely isolated himself in West Virginia while waiting for an NFL offensive coordinator role to open up; others sensed Leftwich no longer wanted to coach.
Leftwich is here to clear that up.
“I. Want. To. Coach,” he says emphatically over what’s left of his fried eggs, bacon and a biscuit.
After a year-and-a-half devoted largely to his 14-year-old son, Dominic — making breakfast, dropping off and picking up, traveling up and down the East Coast for a demanding AAU basketball circuit, watching every football practice and game — Leftwich wants back in the coaching game.
“There’s something missing. … I really do feel as though something’s not there, and I’ve got to get back to it,” says Leftwich, who received his son’s blessing to return. “I’m really into helping other players. I want to help them to play the best. I love to teach.”
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GO FURTHER
Byron Leftwich went from future NFL head coach to perceived scapegoat. Now he wants back in
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