I did make that point, but the fact is he probably left $20 or 30 million on the table. I know hanging around the SC campus and getting coed tail is worth something, but that seems high. Also, while Arizona seems to be moving in the right direction, their history doesn't give one much cause to believe they will turn the corner, Bengals style. Plus, the team that would have likely taken him last year, SF, has a good coaching staff and had a vry good draft this year. If he had it to do over again, knowing what he knows now, I'm sure Leinert would come out early.
You guys don't know Leinert at all. If money had been his priority, he would have come out last year. Geez......you guys know nothing about the man. He might be disappointed that he didn't go to New York where he could be Broadway Matt, or he might be pissed that Vince Young went before him, that Norm Chow passed on him, but it is not about the money for this guy....He is set for life as it is. What you guys don't understand is the SC system. USC grads who were stars in football are taken care of like nobody's business after their college career...especially a guy like Matt Leinert.
I understand the celebrity culture. Leinert went from A List to loser. Even girl's magazines are making fun of him. http://www.seventeen.com/stars/stars/gallery/0,,676218-3,00.html
Leinert's dismissal a couple of weeks ago of super-agent Leigh Steinberg semmingly belies LoZZZer's psycho-babble interpretation of Leinert's money motives. Leinert opted for The Peyton brothers agent Tom Condon. Of COURSE the move had nothing to do with $$$. From the New York Daily News: "Matt Leinart, the USC quarterback who lost just two games in his college career, suffered through the worst nightmare a highly rated player in the NFL draft can have. He had to sit quietly in the green room at Radio city Music Hall as nine players got the call to enter the league ahead of him. It all ended about an hour and 40 minutes into the draft when the Arizona Cardinals selected Leinart with the 10th pick. But Leinart didn't look too happy when he came on stage to shake commissioner Paul Tagliabue's hand."
The TE position is riddled with "can't miss" busts. Here's a sample... "Of the 41 tight ends drafted in the first round since 1967, only eight have posted even 400 receiving yards as rookies, and only six have had 5 or more touchdowns. Recent history is similarly uninspiring; the 14 first-round tight ends drafted since 1995 have averaged 270 receiving yards and scored a total of 24 TDs in their rookie seasons." http://www.fantasyindex.com/Factoid071105.html
His ego was brusied, it was not the money. Seriously, you greedy capitalists don't have a clue about Leinert....
Don't get me wrong, I think Leinert may well be a bust in the NFL. He will be remembered as a great college quarterback, but as a pro, playing against men? He doesn't come close at all to the toughness of say Big Ben.... I think he was in the perfect system, and he is in no way a Carson Palmer. Leinert has little mobility, and a weak arm. I think he is soft, and too distracted. There were some draft "experts" that thought he was not even a first rounder....
Cohiba, IMO Bush possesses Sanders like magic. He's the most talented RB to come out in over a decade. The NFL is still about big plays. i.e. look at the way the Steelers "stole" the SB on a couple of long TD's despite pathetic execution on offense. The ability of Bush to rip off 40yards anytime he touches the ball, even if he's featured only as a #2 back, will make him the most dangerous man in the league. Think of an even better LaDainian Tomlinson....
LT lite, LaDanian is over rated. Yes, over rated. This from someone who watches him weekly. Dude has zero break away speed. We would consistently see backs like Tony Dorsett, Sanders, Emmit, Marshall Faulk...even backs like Marcus Allen and Earl Campbell couyld outrun the defense. You don't see LaDanian do that very often, it is rare, and it is not as if he doesn't have the holes to run through. He lacks the speed that Reggie has big time, big time.