Great write up by Urban. The irony of the "immature" Leinart being the best example of a young guy knowing his role and working with what he is dealt makes me chuckle.
Say what you want about what you think he will end up being but you have to agree he handeled this all better then can be expected. Maybe it will pay off for him.
The QBs of 2006
Back in 2006, the Cardinals were thinking long and hard about drafting Jay Cutler. They needed a quarterback of the future, the front office reasoned, and the top two quarterbacks on the board (in the team’s estimation) would be gone by the time the Cards picked 10th overall – or so everyone thought about Vince Young and Matt Leinart. A few days before the draft, general manager Rod Graves even met with a couple of reporters (me being one) and we joked about getting exact information before the draft. We threw a handful of names as players that would be the Cards’ pick if he made it to No. 10, and
Graves said absolutely to three – which included Leinart.
We all know the rest of the story. Young went No. 3 to Tennessee, and somehow Leinart slipped to 10th, where the Cards barely waited for the ninth pick (LB Ernie Sims to Detroit) to be announced before
they turned in their card to select the lefty. Cutler, the man who probably would have been a Cardinal, then went 11th to Denver after a trade.
Now, heading into the fourth season for those players, it’s amazing to see their career arcs, none of which are on the upswing as once was expected. It’s also telling to see how Leinart has handled his situation the best. Yes, Leinart was not happy – at all – when
Kurt Warner beat him out before the season. But he dealt with it and said the right things, and even said recently
he didn’t want a trade after Warner re-signed.
Young, meanwhile, melted down last season while playing poorly and
there are questions whether he can succeed with the Titans. And
Cutler’s deal is a total mess – he’s got some statistics but not a ton of wins, and his sometimes surly attitude has emerged in a very public way over the last couple weeks in his spat with new coach Josh McDaniels. I’ve seen people knock Leinart for being immature at times, but I don’t think he is – at least, not anymore. He’s certainly the one guy of the trio that isn’t making his coach cringe when things don’t go his way.
