The agent for Dennis Dixon isn’t a fan of how his client has been used this offseason.
Agent Jeff Sperbeck told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Dixon didn’t practice enough with the first-team offense during OTA season and wonders why he’s expected to start training camp behind Byron Leftwich on the depth chart.
“I don’t understand why after Byron’s been gone a year, they would bring him back and start him ahead of Dennis. To me, it should have been Dennis’ job as the No. 1. He was No. 2 last year. Byron was not even in the picture,” Sperbeck said.
We understand Sperbeck’s opinion and loyalty, but there has to be a better way to go about this than publicly calling out Dixon’s coaching staff. It’s key to note Dixon says nothing wrong in the article, but his agent doesn’t do him any favors.
“When you bestow the confidence in him that he is the guy, now the team knows that and they are prepared to follow him,” Sperbeck said. “Without the team giving that to him, it’s more difficult for any quarterback to lead when your own status is uncertain. You lead differently as a starter than you do as a backup.”
Mike Tomlin has a difficult job in training camp to prepare Ben Roethlisberger, Leftwich, and possibly Dixon. There just aren’t enough snaps to go around and the Steelers don’t appear comfortable handing the offense over to Dixon just yet.
Sperbeck would be better served finding out why that is, and trying to help his client to improve.