Happy for Byron. The thing they always touted with him was his high football IQ. It sounds like he’s on a track to eventually be a candidate for head coach openings. This should be a good audition for him.

I always said if you put his mind and arm on Garrard, you’d have the perfect QB. Byron had that long windup, but he threw the ball with so much velocity he could almost impale his receivers. I remember the first pass we saw him throw in a preseason game after he was drafted. He split coverage hitting a TE in stride down the seam a good 30 or so yards. The pass was spot on, and actually had a little break to it that made the thing look like a curveball. The guy sitting next to me and I both were just amazed by the throw because we’d never seen that kind of pass from Brunell.

It was funny. Many people have Leftwich sightings while he was here. The guy was extremely generous with local charities, especially where kids were involved. The thing is, he shunned the media when he was doing his charity work. He didn’t want to distract from the charity, but I think it hurt him because a lot of fans thought he was aloof.

My old offices were in a building that had offices for one of the youth charities Byron supported financially. I was walking out for lunch and as I came downstairs I walked right into their annual Christmas party in the lobby of our building. The kids were doing a production for Byron and a few other players/coaches he’d brought with him. I got stuck standing next to him at the foot of the stairs, so I just said hello and started small talk. He couldn’t have been any nicer. Started talking about his childhood and how it was his goal to really help these kids. It was genuine, and he really seemed to want to stay behind the scenes and use his resources to help them.

The only charity work he was ever credited with in the local media was tied to him buying hundreds of tickets for each game to give to inner city kids. Some of those kids came from the charity he was visiting that day.

It was a shame he wasn’t even remotely mobile, or quicker with the release. He had the potential to be a really good QB in the league. Unfortunately, his ability to emulate a statue shortened his career.

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