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Sunday, April 12, 2009

Steelers lose Leftwich

The Steelers lost free agent quarterback Byron Leftwich to the Tampa Bay Bucs on Sunday, leaving a hole on their roster behind Ben Roethlisberger.

Leftwich signed a two-year deal with Tampa Bay, spurning a similar offer from the Steelers for the opportunity to win a starting job in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs' depth chart at quarterback now includes Leftwich, Josh McCown, Brian Griese and Josh Johnson.

Pittsburgh currently has just unproven second-year QB Dennis Dixon on its roster behind Roethlisberger. The team will now turn to veteran Charlie Batch, who missed the entire 2008 season with a broken clavicle suffered in the first preseason game.

The Steelers wanted to bring both Leftwich and Batch to camp this summer in case one of the two were injured.

:Leftwich was signed last August after Batch was injured.
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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:39 PM

    Lost Batch?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peezy8:04 PM

    FIX YO HEADLINE

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dale Lolley8:08 PM

    Just seeing if y'all are paying attention.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:23 PM

    Good luck Byron, I hope he proves all the haters wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Patrick8:25 PM

    can't blame Leftwhich for going somewhere with a better opportunity. The only chance had to start here was an injury and who wants to cheer for an injury to a teammate who is one of the leaders of the team?

    I think this could prompt the Steelers to give Dixon a lot more reps and attention. It would be nice to see his talent utlized in a few packages.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:06 PM

    Here's hoping Leftwhich has a great year and earns us a reasonable draft pick

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dale Lolley11:11 AM

    Any major comp pick would have to come through playing time. I haven't confirmed contract numbers yet, but I can't imagine he signed for much more than the vet minimum.
    But he should start among that group.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:15 AM

    I wish we had lost him sooner so we had more guys to choose from in FA. Now all the decent backups are gone. Oh well Batch is adequate.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dale Lolley11:17 AM

    Two years at $7.5 million for Lefty. That's actually starter's money - low end - but starter's money nonetheless.
    That's good news for the Steelers - and Leftwich.
    The Steelers weren't offering him anything near that. The Bucs seemingly were bidding against themselves and offering a starting job to boot.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1:37 PM

    Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison signed a six-year deal Monday worth $51.7 million with $20 million guaranteed, according to his agent, Bill Parise.

    Good news!

    Zeke

    ReplyDelete