Leftwich to Atlanta impact
As a Byron Leftwich believer, even I was surprised how quickly the Gary Coleman look-alike was picked up in a few of my leagues.
Joining an offense during the season presents many difficulties, especially an offense as poor as the Falcons. There is no running game, shaky receivers, and an offensive line struggling to learn a new system. Leftwich managed to find a worse offense than Jacksonville.
Atlanta doesn't have a bye until Week 8, and it's unrealistic to expect Leftwich to learn the offense well enough to get the starting job before then. Although anything is possible with Joey Harrington.
Leftwich fits the Atlanta vertical attack far better than Harrington and his play-it-safe style. When Leftwich takes over, it will benefit owners of Roddy White, Alge Crumpler, and even the Atlanta runners. Their offense could be competent late in the year.
That doesn't mean Leftwich is worth rostering now unless you are in 2QB leagues. His upside is that of a solid QB2, and that's going to take some time. I think Leftwich can prove to be a quality NFL quarterback, but his situation won't make it easy. It will make it almost impossible to be a fantasy threat in 2007.
Comments
So with the sinking ship that is Julius Jones, I am trying to trade him for Lee Evans while the Lee Evans train is de-railed. What do you think? Who ends up with the better season: Jones or Evans, and would you make the trade?
Posted by: Mike | September 19, 2007 10:55 AM
I would offer that trade in a second. Evans always starts slow but come december(fantasy playoffs) he will be lighting it up. JJ sucks. I dont know why he even gets the touches he does MB3 is better in every way.
Posted by: Jeremy | September 19, 2007 11:53 AM
Agreed
Posted by: Stephen | September 19, 2007 12:07 PM
Hey I'm thinking of trading Andre Johnson. I think I"m really short at RB (Maroney, A Green, D. Williams, R. Dayne) but I'm stacked at receiver (C. Johnson, A. Johnson, L. coles, J. Cotchery, B. Edwards, R. Curry) I have an offer on the table to do away with injured A Johnson for Cadillac and a receiver (James Jones, D. Mason, G. Jennings, Drew Bennet)
Posted by: Bruce | September 19, 2007 01:11 PM
Bruce, I'd see if you can leave it for a day or two to get an update on AJ. It's a good trade if AJ's going to be out for more than a couple of weeks, but not so much if it's only a week.
Posted by: Adam | September 19, 2007 01:23 PM
oh joyous joy, more off-topic crap. go to the forums.
personally, it's clear to me that the falcons are panicking, and i definitely think leftwich will be on the field before week 9. they're not going to wait for him to fully master the offense, because hell, harrington surely hasn't mastered it.
leftwich can't be that much of a downgrade, even with less reps in the offense than brainless joe. at least leftwich has a brain. oh, and a cannon arm.
as a lifelong falcons fan, i have endured some of the most inept management decisions ever. even so, this year has been hard to take. why in the world would the falcons sign leftwich to a backup's contract with starting-pay escalators, 3 weeks after denying any interest in him whatsoever?
i can't freaking WAIT for rich mckay to get fired. it's getting to the point where i feel like an idiot by association for rooting for a team with a front office full of saps. hopefully blank will follow through on hiring curtis martin.
Posted by: The Dox | September 19, 2007 06:34 PM
Cosign on the dumb decisions. There was no reason not to sign Leftwich when he first became available, especially if they were gonna give him that much money to begin with.
And while I never trusted Joey Harrington as a starter, I say this more with the thinking that you can't go into a season with him as your starter and only Chris Redman there to back him up. Now, we (sorry, Falcons fan too) are in a situation where our inept starter has repeated history through two weeks and we have no viable choice at backup.
To make matters worse, there is a confluence of other factors that will come into play for the Falcons when Leftwich hits the field. How will the receivers take to the change from catching changeups to catching fastballs? They already have problems with the drops. And what about the line? Leftwich is no Vince Young and he's a quarterback who will stand tall in the pocket and take the hit. How long will that work if the o-line doesn't grasp this new system soon?
I just hope that Leftwich does enough so that we don't need to chase Brohm or Woodson in the draft.
Posted by: MF Duke | September 20, 2007 12:07 PM