With the way things are looking I’d have to say the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to have one long battle for the starting quarterback this summer. Yea, I know a lot of reports say its Luke McCown‘s job to lose but others say Byron Leftwich has the inside track. Then there’s the wild card, rookie Josh Freeman. So who is it going to be? How long will it take to decide? Can it divide a team?

The St. Petersburg Times has been projecting McCown as the starter for some time. There’s no surprise in that thinking as he has been with the team since 2005. He’s only been a starter in three games during his for year tenure, but does have experience with the current group of players. He’s got back-up talent at best, so the question is does having the experience enough to make him the starter?

Now the NFL Post paints a different story, they say Leftwich has the inside track at the job. He was a very serviceable backup for the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers’ last season. Whenever called upon he came in and got the job done. They report that his teammates are already in love with him.

Like I said earlier the wild card in the whole scenario is first round draft pick Freeman. Jason La Canfora of NFL.com says that the kid could be under contract and ready to practice by the opening of camp Friday. He also says that Freeman has been wowing the coaching staff and management by the dedication he’s shown this summer. Even without a contract he’s been in Tampa working out with veterans and learning the teams playbook.

So who really does have the upper hand?

In my opinion till Freeman is signed its Leftwich. Both, he and McCown have to learn coach Jeff Jagodzniski’s offense, which should be a vertical attack something the Buccaneers are not known for. Leftwich has a very strong arm and could excel in such an offense, but does McCown? He’s never been asked to make those sort of passes, does he have the arm to do so? I’m not so sure and because of that I’d have to say Byron has the edge.

Long term thou I believe Freeman is the answer. If he’s in camp by Friday and truly well versed in the offense, I believe he’ll be starter by mid-season, if not sooner. Only way that doesn’t happen is if Leftwich has this team in the hunt for a playoff berth, which is a strong possibility with their two headed monster of Earnest Graham and Derrick Ward at running back.

Regardless this battle is going to drag on throughout the entire camp, and with how things look now we might not even see a QB named till the very end of camp.

So the question you’d have to ask yourself is if this could be a detriment to the Bucs succeeding in 2009?