Leinart’s holdout surely isn’t hurting Warner

By Connor Byrne  |   Wednesday, August 02, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Arizona Cardinals
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After four days of training camp in the hot Flagstaff sun, Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Matt Leinart remains as one of the few first-year holdouts left. The 10th overall selection and the Cardinals are reportedly far apart on a deal, which hasn't encouraged the team's fans. Leinart and his agent, Tom Condon, are looking for money not congruent with the spot the former USC star was selected at.

Although Leinart's holdout isn't pleasing to many, it certainly isn't bothering incumbent signal caller Kurt Warner. Without his new understudy in camp, the 35-year-old Warner can continue taking all the snaps and directing the Cards' potent offense. Head coach Denny Green has ruled out the possibility of Leinart being the No. 1 quarterback at any point this season, but nothing's ever etched in stone. Nevertheless, since the rookie's not in camp, the job will certainly continue to be Warner's.

Following three straight years of mediocre football, Warner, a former NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion, returned to form somewhat last season. The 6-foot-2, 222-pounder tossed 11 touchdowns in 10 starts and amassed a solid 85.6 efficiency rating.

Thanks largely to Warner, Arizona's passing attack became one of the league's most prolific, as he exceeded the 300-yard plateau in five games. In Warner's last seven contests of the year, the former Northern Iowa standout surpassed the 250-yard mark six times and threw 10 touchdowns compared to seven picks.

At some point in the near future, Leinart and the Cardinals will reach an accord, allowing the 6-5, 224-pounder to report to camp. Until that day comes, however, the franchise's face will continue to be Warner. When Leinart does report, all of the focus will certainly be on him, as the 23-year-old is already one of the National Football League's biggest, most popular stars.

Since Leinart probably won't see much work in the rest of camp and preseason, the chances of him playing much in 2006 could be all but ruled out. As mentioned earlier, Green nixed those chances long ago anyway. Rather than playing this year, there's little doubt that Leinart will be the Cardinals' No. 1 quarterback by 2007, or 2008 at worst.

For the rest of the summer, Warner will continue building a rapport with receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, and running back Edgerrin James. He'll need to if the Arizona Cardinals want to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1998, back when Jake Plummer was helming the organization.

--Connor J. Byrne can be reached at cbyrne@realfootball365.com.

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