Seattle had their veteran starter in Hasselbeck and they just invested a TON in Charlie Whitehurst to be their next QB. There wasn't really any room for him there.
Leinart is not going to be the starter in waiting in Houston. Leinart is being brought in as a backup QB in the short term in case Schaub gets injured. Texans brass realized that Orlovsky would be a disaster if he ever had to play.
Without a doubt. I say take one around the third or fourth round next year. Either that or find someone worth a damn. I hope and am pretty sure Leinart isn't a long term solution. It should help for this year, but the guys is a wanker.
Well here's hoping he has better luck with Leinart than Carr. Of course, Leinart hasn't been sacked 250 times as was Carr so maybe this will work out. Maybe.
general "solid move for a backup" post by espn blogger: http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_/id/14713/matt-leinart-not-a-bad-idea-for-texans
For all my harping on Carr. I must say he GOT UP everytime. Strapped the helmet back on and pushed ahead. I don't think I will be able to say the same about Leinhart Rocket River
I think this is a pretty savvy signing by the Texans. In general, you hope your starter doesn't get hurt for any significant amount of time. In Orlovsky (who, I think has improved a bit in his year here), nobody really felt confident in his ability as a starter. He needs a few more years grooming. So what do you do? You bring in arguably the best free agent quarterback on a low-risk one year contract. Leinart hasn't been great thus far in his career, but in his rookie season (the pre-Whisenhunt era), he was average. He wasn't necessarily living up to his tenth overall pick status, but he was okay for a rookie. Then, in comes the new coach, both player and coach are saying and doing the right things, but it seems there was some sort of disagreement between the two of them, which I think halted any progression Leinart had. Now, in swoops Kubiak, who I still maintain, has a pretty good record with quarterbacks. Leinart gets a new, understanding, quarterback savvy coach, a change of scenery (which he sorely needed), and a system, which I think fits him very well. Leinart likes to check down and take the more safe passes, and the Texans do a lot of that. Give him a year or two under Kubiak (if this lasts long enough), and I think you see Leinart emerge as an above average backup, or average starter. I think he'll end up being a backup along the lines of a Sage (minus the helicopter piloting). If Schaub goes down for two or three games over the course of the year, I would feel okay if Leinart is the starter. If Schaub misses half the season, maybe then you start to worry. Maybe. What team wouldn't, though. Successful teams are those with healthy starting quarterbacks. Bring in Schobel, which from what I'm reading isn't looking likely, and you've got some great depth going throughout the whole roster. If we can land Schobel somehow, I think the moves this team has made in the past week are probably the best of any team in the league. Totally off topic, but great signing by the Ravens, by the way.
The reason I also like the signing is because my fiancee said she is starting to become a little bit of a Texans fan (once she heard we signed him). Right now, she's mostly a Jets fan.
