Jags make a change

A surprising note from Friday: Jacksonville is going with David Garrard as its starting QB and plans to trade or release Byron Leftwich.

It's common knowledge the Jags have been less than pleased with what they've gotten out of Leftwich during his tenure as the starter, and he and coach Jack Del Rio haven't been BFFs. But the QB change comes as a bit of a shock this late in the season since the Jags had been saying all along Leftwich was the starter.

So what's the fantasy impact? It's not as if Leftwich is a stud or anything, but he's been a semi-useful player and was probably slotted as a decent No. 2 option this year. If you've already drafted him as your backup, you don't necessarily have to go dropping him until we see where he lands - if he goes to another team with an unsettled QB situation, he might have a shot to be a starter again soon.

I had Lefty ranked No. 26 among QBs before this news, behind guys such as Jeff Garcia, Rex Grossman, Jason Campbell, Trent Green and Matt Schaub, so if you can safely replace him with one of those other signal-callers, go ahead.

As for Garrard, he has basically the same projected value as Leftwich, although he will run a little more. That offense isn't exactly a powerhouse, and I may be biased, but I picked him up once when he was filling in for Leftwich for a stretch against some weak teams, and he was fairly disappointing. So I rate him as a very low-end No. 2.