Is Josh Johnson Fighting a Doomed Battle?

The stage was set.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team in the midst of an intense quarterback war, sent second-year quarterback Josh Johnson out onto the field last Saturday night and he did something that might make life even tougher around One Buc Place: He shined. 

The supremely athletic Johnson guided the offense with ease. He completed three of his five pass attempts and displayed his fluent playmaking abilities. He highlighted this performance with an admirable 43-yard touchdown scamper.

Now back to reality.

Johnson, the fourth man at a three-man party, orchestrated his drive against defensive superstars such as Stanford Keglar, William Hayes, and the always overbearing Larry Birdine.

When he provided his 43-yard masterpiece of the evening, he did so with 6:20 remaining in the fourth quarter in front of a handful of die-hards and 50,000 empty beer cups.

So is life for the guy who, by all accounts, seems to be the odd man out in the Buccaneer quarterback quandary. The preseason seems to offer little more to Johnson than irrelevant fourth quarter snaps and the occasional chance to take a meaningful rep in practice.

While it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Johnson is simply coach Raheem Morris' extra toy that will be discarded shortly, one question has to be asked: Does he really deserve it?

Johnson was taken in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL draft and appeared to bring with him nothing but shining promise and potential. Former coach Jon Gruden was extremely high up on the rookie quarterback, a species that the veteran-obsessed Gruden typically despises.

However, the relevance of the talented quarterback seemed to diminish along with Gruden's time in Tampa. Upon taking over the team, new coach Morris seemed to have little, if any, plans for Johnson, instead bringing in two quarterbacks to jump in front of him in line.

The most threatening of those line jumpers seems to be rookie cover boy and first round draft pick Josh Freeman. Just one preseason ago, Johnson was the prized rookie acquisition. He was the guy that could not be mentioned in cut talks and the head coach's schoolboy crush.

Now, that title belt is securely fastened around the waist of Freeman and Johnson is the football equivalence of the guy wearing No. 72 and playing third base in baseball spring training. Although his battle seems pointless, it will be difficult to make a final call until after Saturday night's game in Jacksonville.

Morris has declared that the Jacksonville game will brighten the cloudy quarterback picture. Most expect that to mean that after the Jacksonville game he will officially announce what has been apparent for awhile.

Byron Leftwich is your starting quarterback and Luke McCown is second string.

However, as fellow columnist Tom Edrington brought up earlier today, the thought of the Bucs keeping McCown around to ride the bench and eat up $4 million may be becoming less and less ideal.

If Leftwich wins the starting job and a decision has to be made on McCown, the assumption that Johnson is halfway out the door could be surprisingly proven wrong.

I have to admit that I was a loyal fan of McCown heading into camp but have been disappointed with him thus far. He seems somewhat unprepared for the most important preseason of his life and has not looked sharp in training camp or his one preseason appearance. 

While I still feel that Freeman was a wasted draft pick and a very vulnerable future plan, the quarterback situation will be in better, more efficient shape if the loser of the McCown-Leftwich face-off is released.

Josh Johnson may have no future here as long as Morris' favorite Kansas State Wildcat is penciled in on top of him. However, he deserves a real chance to prove himself and time is running out on that chance.

His fate could be more evident Sunday morning if Saturday night truly clears anything up. Johnson is primed for an opportunity but whether or not that opportunity will come in red and pewter will have to be seen.