The former Buccaneers offensive coordinator reportedly interviewed with the team on Tuesday.
The New England Patriots’ head coaching search is heating up, with former NFL quarterback and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich the latest candidate to interview with the team. As first reported by Mike Jones of The Athletic and since confirmed by the organization, Leftwich met with the Patriots on Tuesday.
Leftwich, 44, entered the NFL as the seventh overall selection in the 2003 draft. His 10-year career in the league, which never saw him live up to his draft status, included stops in Jacksonville, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Tampa. In total, he appeared in 62 regular season and playoff games with 51 starts.
Four years after his final game, he started his coaching career as a member of the Arizona Cardinals. In three seasons, Leftwich went from intern to quarterbacks coach to interim offensive coordinator. While he was eventually fired alongside the rest of the team’s staff after the 2018 season, he quickly found a new job as offensive coordinator with one of his former teams, the Buccaneers.
Leftwich ended up spending four seasons in that role, including the final three alongside former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The pair won the Super Bowl in its first year together, and continued to lead one of the league’s most productive offenses in 2021. However, a drop-off in offensive production the next year led to Leftwich’s firing.
He has remained on the open coaching market ever since. Nonetheless, the Patriots are expressing interest in his services in light of firing rookie head coach Jerod Mayo after a disappointing 4-13 campaign.