Didn't see this one coming...

The Jaguars announced Friday that they will be cutting their starting quarterback Byron Leftwich when they cut their list of players down to 53.

Wow.

Back in February, head coach Jack Del Rio announced Leftwich would be the starter. And every day since then, Del Rio has said the same thing. Until now.

It's not that I think Leftwich is a great quarterback. His mechanics are awful. I can make a sandwich in the time it takes him to throw a pass. He is severely limited when it comes to scrambling and moving around in the pocket. His decision making is suspect, and to top it off he is injury prone. Leftwich has yet to play a full season in the NFL since he was drafted.

But he seems to have been the only quarterback in that city to have some success under center. Instead, David Garrard will get the nod.

The interesting part about this is the timing. There were little to no trade talks involving Leftwich, or indication that he was in danger of losing his starting job, let alone roster spot. And he wasn't released until hours before the rest of the teams in the league had to make their final cuts. So he wont have any time to go and try to win a spot for another team.

Now, Leftwich will have to wait and see what happens. If a quarterback gets injured in the first week or two of the season, Leftwich could be a good guy to bring in and lead the team until that quarterback is back. Or, more likely, if certain quarterbacks struggle, teams could sign him and hope he can provide a shot in the arm for their offense.

The most likely place I see him going is Atlanta. Even so, Leftwich will have to move in and learn a new system quickly if he is to get some playing time this year.

There have been rumors that Jack Del Rio is on the chopping block this year, and that he is a leading candidate to lose his job. I didn't believe any of those rumors, until now. He firmly strapped himself in to the hot seat with this move, in my opinion. If Garrard and the rest of the offense comes out and struggles early, Del Rio might not even last the season.