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Revision as of 04:51, 27 July 2011 by 71.231.137.29 (talk) (→College career)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) American football playerMatt Leinart with his Heisman trophy in winter 2005. | |||||||||||||||
Houston Texans | |||||||||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||
Born: | (1983-05-11) May 11, 1983 (age 41) Santa Ana, California | ||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||
College: | Southern California | ||||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 2006 / round: 1 / pick: 10 | ||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2010 | |||||||||||||||
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Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983), is an American professional football quarterback for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. Leinart previously played for four seasons (2006–2009) with the Arizona Cardinals, largely in a backup role to the now-retired Kurt Warner, before being released on September 4, 2010.
Leinart played collegiately at the University of Southern California. In 2004, he led the Trojans to the BCS national championship and was named that year's winner of the Heisman Trophy as well as the winner of the inaugural Manning Award, which is awarded to the country's top quarterback. The championship was vacated by the BCS on June 6, 2011.
The left-handed passing Leinart was selected tenth overall in the 2006 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Despite possessing what draft experts believed was a good frame for a quarterback (6'-5”, 230 pounds), they believed his lack of a strong throwing arm, such as that possessed by his predecessor, Carson Palmer (now with the Cincinnati Bengals), would be a detriment in his professional career.
After Kurt Warner's retirement, Leinart was named the presumptive starter. However, he lost the starting job in training camp to veteran Derek Anderson, who signed with the Cardinals as a free agent before the 2010 season.
After some speculation, Leinart agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Texans on September 6, 2010.
Early years
Matt Leinart was born in Santa Ana, California. He was born with strabismus (“crossed eyed”), as his left eye was not aligned correctly with his right. He underwent surgery when he was three years old and was fitted with special glasses to correct the problem, but the eyewear combined with Leinart's already-overweight frame made him an easy target for ridicule at the hands of other children. “I used to get made fun of for being cross-eyed. It's just a terrible thing because kids are so cruel to the fat kid, to the kid with the glasses. So I turned to sports,” he would later say.
Leinart attended St. John Baptist Catholic School in Costa Mesa, California and then Mater Dei High School and was a student and a letterman in football. As a junior, he led his team to a California Interscholastic Federation Division I co-championship, and was named the Serra League's Offensive Most Valuable Player. Wearing number 7, he was chosen as the Gatorade California high school football player of the year.
As one of the nation's top college football recruits, Leinart committed to USC under coach Paul Hackett, noting that a major factor was offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. However, after Hackett and most of his staff were fired in 2000, Leinart considered other programs such as Georgia Tech and Arizona State and visited Oklahoma before USC eventually hired Pete Carroll.
Professional career
2006 NFL Draft
Leinart was considered one of the top prospects in the 2006 NFL Draft class. Standing 6'5" (1.96 m) and weighing 225 pounds (100 kg) and a left-handed thrower, he was considered the prototypical NFL quarterback in terms of size but with a weak arm.
Leinart was selected tenth overall in the 2006 Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | Vertical jump | Broad jump | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
225 lb (102 kg) |
5.90 s | 36 in (0.91 m) |
9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) | ||||||||
All values from NFL Combine |
Arizona Cardinals
Leinart was involved in a prolonged holdout with the Cardinals on August 8, 2006. However, on August 14, Leinart agreed to a six-year, $51 million contract, becoming the very last member of the draft to sign a contract, and not before Cardinal Coach Dennis Green said that he had lost his patience. Despite signing late, Leinart played in the second quarter of the exhibition game against the New England Patriots on August 19.
During the fourth week of the NFL season, unofficial sources projected that Leinart would take over as the starting quarterback, due to a poor performance by Kurt Warner in the previous game. During the week, coach Green held a conference and specifically stated that Warner would still start that week's game.
In a November 26 game, he set an NFL rookie record with 405 passing yards in a loss to the 6-10 Minnesota Vikings. His quarterback rating was 74.0. He suffered a sprained left shoulder (throwing arm) in a week 16 win over the San Francisco 49ers. In 11 starts, Leinart threw for 2,547 yards and 11 touchdowns. He finished the season with a 4–7 record.
Leinart opened the 2007 season on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers as the starting quarterback. After a sequence of quarters in which the offense stalled, Whisenhunt began to insert Warner as a situational quarterback. On October 10, 2007, Leinart suffered a fractured left collarbone after being sacked by St. Louis Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon. Three days later, he was placed on injured reserve, ending his season. In his first 2 NFL seasons, Leinart had suffered two season-ending injuries within a period of 5 sacks. With Warner at the helm for the remainder of the season, the Cardinals mounted a late-season surge and won five of their final 8 games. In 11 starts in 2007, Warner completed 281 of 451 attempts (62.3%) for 3,417 yards, 27 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, and passer rating of 89.8.
In Leinart's second season with Arizona, he started 5 games and completed 53.6% of his passes (60/112) and threw for 647 yards, 5.8 yards per attempt, 2 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. His passer rating was 61.9. He averaged 129 yards and 0.4 touchdowns per start.
In the 2008 offseason, after he recovered from the injury, Leinart was handed his starting job back, but his hold on the job was tenuous after another strong training camp performance by Warner. Finally, after Leinart threw 3 interceptions within a matter of minutes versus the Oakland Raiders in the third preseason game, Kurt Warner was named the opening-day starter. Leinart picked up only a limited number of snaps in mop-up duty behind Warner. For the 2008 season, he completed 15 of 29 passing attempts (51.7%), 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and a 80.2 passer rating.
In 2009, Leinart continued his role as back-up for Warner, who started all but one regular season game.
In 2010, he was named the presumptive starter after Warner's retirement; however, he lost the starting job in training camp to Derek Anderson. The Cardinals released Leinart on September 4, two days after the final preseason game, in favor of Anderson and rookies Max Hall and John Skelton.
Houston Texans
On September 6, 2010, ESPN's Adam Scheffter reported that Leinart signed a one year contract to back up Matt Schaub with the Houston Texans. He never played a down for Houston for the entire 2010 season.
Seattle Seahawks
On July 26, 2011, it was reported that Leinart agreed in principal to play for the Seattle Seahawks.
Personal life
Leinart's son, Cole Cameron Leinart, was born on October 24, 2006 in California. The mother of Leinart's son is former USC women's al.com/sports/cardinals/articles/1213cards1214.html Leinart learning from sidelines]</ref>
Television and film appearances
Matt Leinart's most recent appearance was done in support of a long-time friend who will be competing on The Biggest Loser 2010 on its season premiere 21 Sept 2010. He also made an appearance on the May 1, 2006 episode of Punk'd, featuring Ashton Kutcher as the host. He also has appeared in several commercials on television, most notably for ABC's hit-sitcom Desperate Housewives. He also appeared in Nike's "Football is Everything" commercial as the backup quarterback on the sidelines holding a clipboard. He also starred in an NFL Sunday Ticket commercial with the Manning family (Peyton and Eli are surprised that father Archie is helping him with his throwing, only to have Archie say that "he always wanted a lefty"). In 2007, he appeared in the NFL Shop commercial with Steven Jackson and Adam Vinatieri where he threw an Arizona Cardinals throw blanket to a fan who made a diving catch. Most recently, Leinart appeared in a commercial for ESPN the Magazine. He appeared in seven episodes of Rome is Burning in 2006-07, Jimmy Kimmel Live after winning BCS title game (2005), and the 2008 film The House Bunny.
Honors
2004
- Heisman Trophy Winner
- Rose Bowl MVP
- Walter Camp Award
- AP player of the year
- Touchdown Club Manning Award
- Touchdown Club QB of the Year
- Victor Award (Player of the Year)
- James E. Sullivan Award Finalist
- Newport college player of the year
- AP All-American first team
- Football Coaches All-American first team
- ESPN, CSTV, Rivals.com, SI.com, and CFBNews first team All-American
- Pac-10 Co-offensive player of the year
- ESPN.com player of the year
- Rivals.com player of the year
- Pre-season All-American
2005
- Orange Bowl MVP
- Unitas Award
- Finalist for Heisman Trophy
- All-American Offensive Player
- LA Sports Sportsman of the Year
- Sporting News Sportsman of the Year
- National Championship MVP
2006
- Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Males 2006
- ESPN Hottest Male Athlete of the Year
- People Magazine 100 Most Beautiful People
- 10th Pick in the 2006 NFL draft
Career statistics
College
Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
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Season | Team | GP | Comp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | INT | Att | Yds | TD | ||
2003 | USC Trojans | 13 | 255 | 402 | 63.4 | 3,556 | 38 | 9 | 32 | -62 | 0 | ||
2004 | USC Trojans | 13 | 269 | 412 | 65.3 | 3,322 | 33 | 6 | 49 | -44 | 3 | ||
2005 | USC Trojans | 13 | 283 | 431 | 65.7 | 3,815 | 28 | 8 | 51 | 36 | 6 | ||
Totals | 39 | 807 | 1,245 | 64.8 | 10,693 | 99 | 23 | 132 | -70 | 9 | |||
NFL
Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | GP | Rating | Att | Comp | Pct | Yds | TD | INT | Att | Yds | TD | ||
2006 | Arizona Cardinals | 12 | 74.0 | 377 | 214 | 56.8 | 2,547 | 11 | 12 | 22 | 49 | 2 | ||
2007 | Arizona Cardinals | 5 | 61.9 | 112 | 60 | 53.6 | 647 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 42 | 0 | ||
2008 | Arizona Cardinals | 4 | 80.2 | 29 | 15 | 51.7 | 264 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | ||
2009 | Arizona Cardinals | 8 | 64.6 | 77 | 51 | 66.2 | 435 | 0 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 0 | ||
2010 | Houston Texans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Totals | 29 | 70.8 | 595 | 340 | 57.1 | 3,893 | 14 | 20 | 46 | 90 | 2 | |||
References
- Sources: Houston Texans agree to deal with QB Matt Leinart - ESPN
- Honolulu Star-Bulletin Sports /2005/08/31/
- Player Bio: Matt Leinart :: Football
- Ben Bolch, Leinart Chosen State Player of Year, Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2000. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- Ben Bolch, Leinart, Hart Keeping Options Open, Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2000. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- David Wharton and Ben Bolch, USC Recruit Leinart Waits to See Who Will Be Coach, Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2000. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- Chris Dufresne, Timing Isn’t Entirely on Carroll’s Side, Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2000. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- Ben Bolch, Recruits Seem to Be Committed, Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2000. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
- ESPN - Leinart, Cardinals reach agreement on six-year deal - NFL
- ESPN - Arizona Cardinals cut ties with QB Matt Leinart, 5 September 2010
- Billy Witz, "U.S.C.’s Cameron Balances Basketball and Motherhood", New York Times, March 13, 2009.
External links
- Matt Leinart Foundation website
- Arizona Cardinals bio
- Houston Texans bio
- Heisman Trophy profile
- Matt Leinart profile on ESPN.com
- Matt Leinart at IMDb
- Articles with dead external links from March 2008
- 1983 births
- Living people
- American Roman Catholics
- People from Santa Ana, California
- Players of American football from California
- American football quarterbacks
- USC Trojans football players
- Arizona Cardinals players
- Houston Texans players
- Heisman Trophy winners
- Sportspeople from Orange County, California