Leftwich the best pick in the draft ?

[sledge]

Leftwich head and shoulders above every other draft prospect

By Paul Attner - Sporting News


Their friendship began on the 50-yard line inside the Marshall football stadium. The upperclassman, who was the starting quarterback, casually asked the freshman, who was ending his first day on campus, if he could throw a pass into the end zone.

"Why not?" replied the freshman.

He picked up the football and leisurely tossed it on a line through the goal posts.


The erudite upperclassman thought for a few seconds about what he had just seen. He remembered the limits of his own arm. He laughed and turned to the rookie.

"Come on, I'll buy you dinner at McDonald's."

Now, almost five years later, Chad Pennington is an emerging star with the Jets, coming off his first season as a starter. And the former freshman, Byron Leftwich, has become the most debated prospect in the 2003 draft, a special player with a golden arm, striking accuracy and unique leadership abilities. And questions.

Questions about a leg he injured twice in college. Questions about his feet, which lack nimbleness. Questions about his style, which is antiquated amid the rush to mobile quarterbacks. NFL teams see the glow of his throwing ability -- "He has as good an arm as anyone who has come down the pike the last five years," says Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome -- but look at the questions and hesitate enough to ponder how high he will be taken in the first round.


Pennington can relate to the hesitation; he has been there and felt it. In the 2000 draft, misgivings over his arm strength left him available for the Jets with the 18th pick of the first round. It's now obvious the NFL messed up. He should have gone higher.

The league missed on Pennington, and it could happen again with Leftwich. That would be an even bigger error. Leftwich is much more physically talented than Pennington. He is the best player on the board and should be the first player chosen, over quarterback Carson Palmer and everyone else.

But in this era of draft overanalysis and hesitation, of overtesting and rumor, in an atmosphere where teams are running scared about drafting quarterbacks early in the first round because of so many recent flops -- "It's a 50-50 crapshoot," says Ravens coach Brian Billick -- what should be a no-brainer pick has created gobs of indecision.

Leftwich won't slip below the top 10. But if he falls out of the top five, it would be a grievous mistake. And each club that fails to call his name will have a ready bunch of excuses to back up its decision. Years from now, all those excuses will look like so much blather.

Pennington knows this. He tells Leftwich to be patient, tells him to not waste time trying to understand the process. Leftwich heeds the words; after all, Chad always has been right in the past. Over the years, Pennington has become his mentor and confidant; they have become great friends, something that seemed unlikely that late afternoon at midfield. They were so different -- Pennington from Knoxville, Tenn., and Leftwich from Washington, D.C. Yet they were drawn to each other by their shared infatuation with the game and their obsession with perfection. They soon realized they really enjoyed each other's company.

So much of Leftwich is a reflection of Pennington. For the two years they were together at Marshall, the youngster watched the veteran deal with the media, study film, absorb game plans, break down defenses, lead his teammates. He was smart enough to ask questions. Once Pennington left, the two talked weekly -- still do -- sharing experiences, giving advice, acting as mutual comfort zones. Few quarterbacks in the NFL are more cerebral or have better study habits than Pennington. And Leftwich is Chad Jr.

"He's going to be very, very good in this league," says Pennington, a former Rhodes Scholar candidate. "You are getting a guy who has more than physical abilities. As good as they are, his mental abilities are even better. He knows how to watch tape, he understands the game. He is not a product of a system; he is a football player who will fit in anywhere."

But are the teams at the top of the draft listening?

"Leftwich is a real impressive kid, with great command of the game and a presence that really grabs you," says Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, whose team holds the No. l pick. "But you are investing money into a guy who is eating up the salary for two to three starters, and if he is not going to be healthy, you basically shot yourself in the foot." Like 14 teams did the year Pennington was available.

What you have with Byron Leftwich is a classic dropback passer. "He's not for everyone," says Bills G.M. Tom Donahoe. He is huge -- 6-5 3/8 and 241 -- with a gun for an arm and the ability to make every throw imaginable: short, long, crossing, lob, dart. During his three years as a starter at Marshall, the Thundering Herd was 29-9 and won two Mid-American Conference titles. In his last two seasons, he completed a remarkable 67 percent of his 961 attempts for 8,400 yards and 68 touchdowns, with only 17 interceptions. Those are gargantuan numbers, the kind that should translate to the NFL.

Larry Kennan, a former NFL assistant who coached pocket passer Drew Bledsoe in New England and has tutored quarterbacks for 30 years, trained Pennington for the draft and has filled a similar role with Leftwich. "He has more escape ability and maneuverability than Drew and has better leadership qualities," says Kennan. "People respond to him. I'm as high on him as I could be about anybody in a long time." During one workout, Kennan wanted Leftwich to throw a 9 route -- deep down the opposite side of the field. He stationed a receiver and a cone at the target spot. "Which do you want me to hit?" asked Leftwich. He wound up hitting both, one after the other.

But even though dropback types with limited mobility led the last four Super Bowl champions, the league still is mesmerized by a growing desire for more elusiveness at the position. Defenders are bigger, stronger and faster, and scouts see Leftwich, tall in the pocket, as an inviting target who could be subjected to a severe hammering. These scouts aren't convinced his feet are nifty enough to avoid a rush and buy enough time to unload passes. "A statue," says one.

Others disagree. "He is no Donovan McNabb," says Newsome, "but all I know is that when you talk to offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches, the first thing they ask about a prospect is, 'Can he beat you from the pocket?' This guy can do that."

Toss in Leftwich's injury history and things get even more sticky. A year ago, he had a rod inserted into his left tibia as a countermeasure to a stress fracture that had bothered him the previous two seasons. It was a fairly standard procedure for the problem. But in November, while playing against Akron, Leftwich took a hit on the leg from a blitzing linebacker, creating a hairline fracture in the same bone.

That should have ended his career at Marshall. Instead, after having the leg X-rayed, he returned and played in the second half. Then he played in four more games, the leg still broken, and averaged 318 passing yards and threw for 11 touchdowns. Marshall won the league championship and the GMAC Bowl.

Plenty of folks had advised Leftwich to sit out; doctors told him he couldn't damage the leg further. Still, he was delaying the healing process, which in turn would cut into the NFL's offseason evaluation format. And there was the chance he could play poorly. That combination could have cost him precious spots in the first round, and a significant contract reduction.

Yet Leftwich shrugged off the future for the present. He did rehab work as late as 2 a.m.; the Marshall staff couldn't get him to leave the training room. He couldn't practice, he gained weight, he couldn't make the pain go away. And it hurt badly, particularly the day after games. But he had promised his teammates before the season that they would win the MAC and a bowl game. At times in those final games, his offensive linemen had to pick him up and carry him to the huddle.

The NFL saw what he did. Coaches love quarterbacks who play hurt, who don't want special treatment. "There is no question about his intangibles," says Bills coach Gregg Williams. "What he did last season was remarkable. He's got courage and heart and charisma; he can lead men. You want all that in your quarterback."

But . . . "If there was no injury problem, he would be a challenge to go real, real early. Now there is a risk factor. The violence of hits a quarterback takes makes another significant jump at our level. You are going to be playing more games and absorb more hits, and that will be his biggest enemy. He has to stay healthy."

Still . . . on the Bills' draft board, Leftwich is ranked ahead of Palmer.

He went to Florida on January 2, still limping badly, to focus on the NFL by working out and living at a training academy owned by the IMG agency. He went to the NFL Scouting Combine in February but couldn't participate. He still couldn't push off on the leg, yet he had lost 18 pounds by then, down from 259, thanks to a structured dietary plan that has him eating steamed broccoli and passing on those 11 p.m. Burger King Whoppers that got him through college.

On this March afternoon in Bradenton, he is eating a salad for lunch. It is a brilliant Florida spring day. But Leftwich has taken little time to appreciate the surroundings. He hadn't been home since arriving at the academy and wouldn't leave until after his private NFL workout. His days are repetitious and stressful . . . lifting and practicing workout drills and conditioning and throwing and wondering -- wondering about the workout, about the evaluation process, about the fuss over his leg and feet. At the peak of the training, as many as 16 or so IMG clients, both draft prospects and current NFL players, were at the academy. But by the end, only he was left.

Every night, he would talk to his mom, Brenda, who lives in Capitol Heights, Md., just outside D.C., where he grew up and attended high school. A single mother, Brenda worked two jobs at times to support Leftwich and his older brother. Their neighborhood in D.C. was rough, full of temptations; sports helped keep them out of trouble. But he has an interesting take on his upbringing.

"I read too many childhood stories about athletes where they grew up hard in the inner city and went through this or that," he says. "Too many people use what they went through. It's overdone. I'm not saying it was easy for me. Not many places are worse than the inner city of D.C. But it's not about that. I had fun, and I got to an age where you know right from wrong and you decide which way you want to go."

It is a revealing moment about Leftwich. In a time when far too many college stars live in a world of bombast, inflated ego and self-proclaimed importance, he displays none of the above. He's at ease with himself, a mild, engaging, humorous man who loves to talk and laugh. He's one of those people others just like; his round face and pleasant smile are welcoming, without false layers. He also is mature; he already has completed all of his credits for a business degree.

He played just one year in a passing offense at H.D. Woodson High School, which won the city title; only Marshall, Maryland and Pitt showed interest in him. His high school coach, Robert Headen, and Marshall coach Bob Pruett had played semipro football together. Pruett thought Leftwich's arm would be perfect for his pro-style schemes. He quickly found out he had someone eager to listen, learn and lead.

Leftwich hasn't stopped probing. Charlie Batch, the Steelers' backup quarterback, spent five weeks at the IMG Academy, throwing next to Leftwich. He has become a fan. He loves Leftwich's chatter and intelligence, the way he makes everyone around him feel comfortable. And he watched him make the first hesitant passes on his healing leg, then saw him grow more confident as the leg grew stronger and the ball began jumping out of his hands.

"Truthfully, I've been even more impressed with his head," says Batch. "He wasn't able to do much at first down here, but he took notes about how we were running drills, so when he was ready, he could jump right in. You wouldn't expect that from a young guy. And he is always asking questions. He doesn't act like he knows it all. He wants to learn."

Leftwich has learned a lot these past few months. He never could understand how Pennington was drafted so late, but now he realizes all too well the craziness and absurdity of the draft process. You'd think they'd learn, but he's not so sure. He wants to be the first player chosen, but Pennington has counseled him to be happy wherever he goes, and he says he will. As long as he can remember, he has been a football fan. When he was young and his friends were on the street, he would be in front of a television on Sundays, watching NFL games. He never thought he would hear his name called on draft day; that seemed such a dream.

Now it will happen, and maybe his will be the first. No matter. "It's such a fantasy to me that I may just pass out," he says. "Really. I'm not joking." Now we'll see whether the joke is on the teams that pass him up.

[Railbird]

Pennington will stink up the place next year. Leftwhich will be half as good as Culppepper if that, Carson Palmer should even be drafted. Tom Donahoe and MArvin Lewis no absoluetly zero about scouting football talent. Greg Williams is another career loser. Bledsoe didnt do squat for them.

[mjh218]

all that and you misused the word "no" you wanted "know" by the way...

[Railbird]

If you want grammar Mike you will have to look for Landaus trend of teams that are 37-29 on Tuesday road games. If you want classified inside quality info you will have to put up with a spelling error here and there.

[mjh218]

just being a pain rail! Thanks for the quality info. Your info is basically to take public opinion and state the opposite. give me a topic I can give you rails stance on it!

My guess is you hate puppies...dont ya?

[World Runner]

<< just being a pain rail! Thanks for the quality info. Your info is basically to take public opinion and state the opposite. give me a topic I can give you rails stance on it!

My guess is you hate puppies...dont ya? >>




He enjoys being wrong...he's a religious man

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[TheGuesser]

IF Leftwich's leg holds up, he will be a far superior QB to Palmer.

[sledge]

Without a doubt Leftwich will be better than Palmer if healty...........

[DoggieStyle]

Here we go again!

His arm is great... He is great.

What a bunch of suckers these Pro scouts are.

They grab at straws and get paid for it.

This guy is another (for sure) N.F.L. Quarterback...... PLEASE !!!!!

[nostaw1952]

I wasn't impressed with Leftwich's conditioning nor the competition that he played against. I'm not normally big on Heisman winners, but I think Palmer will turn out to be better.

[bunyon]

If the Bengals don't trade down, Carson Palmer will be the first pick.