Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians has appointed former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich to become the new offensive coordinator of the Bucs heading in 2019. As part of the role, he will call plays.
Bryon Leftwich will be calling plays for the #Bucs, Bruce Arians says on @RichEisenShow.
— Thomas Bassinger (@tometrics) January 9, 2019
It's clear that Arians had a pretty good game plan heading into his next position prior to even getting another opportunity. Arians also has Todd Bowles, his former defensive coordinator with the Cardinals, following him over to the Bucs for the same role there.
The Bucs are already in line for a huge turnaround next season, but there are a lot of changes that need to happen for them to find success.
Leftwich took over for the Cardinals' previous offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy, after McCoy had numerous abysmal games making the play calls for the Cardinals. Leftwich was able to use the offense more effectively after receiving play-calling responsibilities. He used running back David Johnson more effectively in the passing game and took pressure off rookie quarterback Josh Rosen when needed.
The Bucs have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball with quarterback Jameis Winston, wide receivers Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson, and tight end O.J. Howard. Leftwich is in a better position than he was with Arizona considering a rookie quarterback can't be easy to coach in your first season as offensive coordinator.
Leftwich has a great mentor in Arians and a lot of the offensive play calling will still more than likely go through Arians. The Bucs could emerge as serious contenders under the right coaching formula and this seems like the right fit for Tampa Bay all around.
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