Shannon Sharpe reacts to former Buccaneers OC joining Deion Sanders at Colorado

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich has a new job with Deion Sanders at Colorado, but some still question what happened during his Tampa Bay tenure.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich against the Arizona Cardinals. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Winning a Super Bowl, as a coach or player, is always an incredible feat, and it typically denotes the best of the best. That understanding is what makes former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich's coaching career a bit puzzling.

Leftwich was Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator under Bruce Arians (and one year with Todd Bowles) from 2019-22, and he won a Super Bowl while coaching Tom Brady in 2020 and led one of the league's best offenses the next year in 2021. That alone should have made him a hot commodity for a head coaching job, but after getting fired for a lackluster 2022 season, Leftwich not only didn't get that HC job — he didn't get any job.

Leftwich hasn't coached football since 2022 after his success in Tampa Bay, but that's changing in 2025. He was recently hired by Deion Sanders to coach at Colorado in an unknown role, putting him on staff with the likes of Warren Sapp and Marshall Faulk, among others. While he's joining great company, some are wondering what he can do given how his tenure with the Buccaneers ended.

That was a topic of conversation on Nightcap, a podcast hosted by former NFL tight end and wide receiver Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, respectively. While Sharpe was happy that Leftwich got another coaching job, he couldn't help but be skeptical about his time in Tampa Bay.

"I really don’t know what happened in Tampa because he went from a guy who had an opportunity to get a head coaching job to being out of the league," Sharpe said. "Every other offensive coordinator that has coached Tom Brady, what has he got in the NFL [co-host Chad Johnson]? A head coaching job."

It's certainly true that plenty of offensive coordinators who have coached Brady have gone on to be head coaches in the NFL (though not all of them). When Bruce Arians retired after the 2021 season, it was Todd Bowles, and not Leftwich, that got the head coaching job. After Bowles fired Leftwich, he hadn't gotten any opportunity until this most recent one.

That being said, it wasn't all doom and gloom in the discussion. Johnson offered a more positive take, remarking that Leftwich's contributions could have been overlooked due to the presence of Brady and that at the end of the day, Colorado will be happy to have a Super Bowl-winning coach on staff.

"Not only did he play the position, but he also coached some of the best at the position," Johnson said. "He also won a ring, if I'm not mistaken."

While it's unknown exactly what role Leftwich will be taking with Colorado, it could get him back into coaching at a higher level sometime in the future.

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