Steel Curtain Rising speculated, long before the major Pittsburgh papers, (well, ok, only one day before) that should Bryon Leftwich fail to secure a solid offer to start somewhere else, he might very well decide to remain a back up in Pittsburgh.
- It now appears that Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder will test that hypothesis.
Earlier this week the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Steelers were hoping to sign both Charlie Batch and Byron Leftwich, but that Leftwich was in talks with another, unnamed team.
Now we know the name of that team, and it is the Washington Redskins, as Leftwich worked out with the Redskins last Friday.
Bryon Leftwich a Hometown Hero?
Byron Leftwich is a Washington DC area native, and was boyhood fan of the team. Like most kids, he grew up dreaming of playing for his hometown team. Later he admitted to the Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon that playing against them, as he did when the Steelers defeated the Redskins last season on Monday Night Football, was the next best thing.
For the moment we can only speculate if the possibility of winning another Super Bowl with the Steelers outweighs the possibility returning to Washington as a native son.
What Exactly is Daniel Snyder Thinking, Anyway?
Its been confirmed that the Redskins, tried, and failed, to land Jay Cutler in a trade. This transpired despite the fact that Jason Campbell has been steadily growing into a quality NFL quarterback. Campbell threw for over three thousand yards last year, completed 62% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 80.4%.
One has to wonder, if Snyder is willing to ditch Campbell as his starter, is he also enticing Leftwich to come to Washington with the promise of competing for a starting spot? A Washington Post article cited an unnamed Redskins source saying that Leftwich was being recruited exclusively as a back up.
Still, its not hard to imagine Snyder making such a pitch. Such an overture, direct or indirect, would be a slap in the face at Jason Campbell and could easily disrupt the chemistry of the Redskins locker room, not that Daniel Snyder has ever let that stop him before. (For the record, the same article said that Campbell was aware of the Leftwich workout, and was completely OK with it.)
It says here that Leftwich should do what is in the best interests of his career. But along those lines, he’d be wise to consider the differences of playing for a team run by Dan Rooney (or Art II as the case may be) and one run by Daniel Snyder.
If Leftwich does sign with the Redskins, the Steelers will most certainly move to get Charlie Batch under contract.
Thanks for visiting. You can trace the Steeler free agent moves via our Steelers 2009 free agent focus.
