Bills will sign QB Matt Leinart

Matt Leinart's NFL career has reportedly has new life.

With injuries to rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel and backup Kevin Kolb, the Buffalo Bills have signed free agent Matt Leinart. The Bills were left with undrafted free agent Jeff Tuel on the depth chart.

Leinart, 30, spent last season as a backup with the Oakland Raiders after two seasons with the Houston Texans and four with the Arizona Cardinals, who drafted him No. 10 overall out of USC in 2006.

Manuel has a minor knee injury and Kolb suffered concussion like symptoms in Saturday's preseason game against the Washington Redskins. Bills head coach Doug Marrone is hoping that Manuel will be ready to return for the team's season opener against New England in two weeks.

Carson Palmer says the Eagles got a steal in Matt Barkley

Quarterbacks out of USC haven't exactly lit the NFL on fire. There have been gaudy stats and playoff wins when you look at the quartet of Arizona Cardinals signal caller Carson Palmer, Matt Cassel, Mark Sanchez and Matt Leinart. Statistically Palmer is the best of the bunch and from a wins and losses standpoint the nod goes to Sanchez. But neither will have a bust in Canton.

The latest USC quarterback coming into the NFL is Philadelphia Eagles fourth round draft pick Matt Barkley. Barkley was projected to go in the late first or early second round of the NFL Draft. For reasons beyond my knowledge Barkley slipped all the way to the fourth round. Barkley is ready to prove that him slipping that far was a mistake. Palmer says the Eagles got a steal.


"I know Matt can play. I've had the opportunity to work out with him over the last couple of years. And I've obviously had a chance to watch him play," Palmer told NFL Network's Andrew Siciliano in an interview that will appear Tuesday on "NFL Total Access."

"For him to go in the fourth round is an absolute steal. I think the bigger question is how he fits into that system, and only time will tell that. But whether the guy can play or not, he can absolutely play, and I know he's excited to prove a lot of people wrong."

I know he didn't live up to all the hype he had coming into his senior season, but only time will reveal if Barkley can excel at the NFL level or just another overhyped USC product.

Matt Leinart Sounds Defensive

Even though Matt Leinart wasn't a top five NFL draft pick there are some who give him the dreaded bust label. That'll happen when you have a celebrated college career (Heisman Trophy,national championship, Manning Award, Johnny Unitas Award, Walter Camp Award and two Archie Griffin Awards). I wouldn't call him a complete bust, more like a flop which to me is a notch below bust.

After flaming out with the Arizona Cardinals, where he was beaten out by Kurt Warner, Leinart landed with the Houston Texans in a backup role. He's now a free agent and personally I don't think this joker will get a legit shot at a starting job again. It never helped that he had an image as a "party guy", something he picked up while he was starring at USC.

In an interview on ESPN Los Angeles Leinart talks about his days in Arizona and the bust label that has been bestowed upon him.

“I’ve heard everything. I’ve heard everything. I’ve seen everything. For me I haven’t proven anything, so I haven’t proven that I could play game in and game out. I understand that. I believe I can play and I’m not one to make excuses. I’ve never made an excuse with my time in Arizona. It just didn’t work out for whatever reason. Those are reasons people outside of the organization won’t understand, but it didn’t work out and it wasn’t a right fit, so you move on. You kind of look at the timeline of what has happened to me and with having a pretty good rookie year and the second year getting the injury and Kurt Warner played himself into the Hall of Fame in the last 3 years. There’s not a lot I can do about that. I battled with a Hall of Famer two training camps in a row. I thought I competed as well as he did and obviously Kurt was a great player. He took us to a Super Bowl. I truly believe he got himself into the Hall of Fame those last couple of years. Last year with everything that happened it just didn’t work out. I said what I said about the situation and I moved on, so there’s people thought I never got a fair shot. People that think I can’t play. There’s a lot of things. For me I’ve worked hard this off-season and I’m always work hard. I’m always ready. I’m always prepared and like I said it’s just always about being a quarterback, but being the right situation. For me hopefully that situation comes up this year and I can thrive and show I belong in the league and I can play because I know I can and that’s what I plan on doing.”


Sounds like he's on the defensive throughout the interview. I guess I would hate being labeled as a bust when you really haven't been given a chance to play. But the stats will tell you why he's been glued to the bench. I do agree that Warner played himself into the Hall of Fame while he was with the Cardinals. When you watched them play last season they looked lost without him.

For Leinart it's just not going to happen.

If Warner can't go the Cardinals are in trouble

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner left today's game against the St.Louis Rams with a head injury.It could possibly be a concussion,we'll have to stay tuned for that.If Warner can't come back the Cardinals,are in trouble.The offense, behind Matt Leinart has stagnated and i think Arizona should be rethinking their plans for a quarterback of the future.I won't sell Leinart short yet,but what has he really done since coming into the NFL.The starting job was handed to him and he couldn't seize the oppurtunity. To make a deep playoff run,they need Warner to shake the cobwebs and comeback.If he doesn't I can see their season going down the toilet.The only thing that saves them is being in a weak division(NFC West) that they almost can get into the playoffs by default.