Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Matt Leinart Era? Already?

So remember what I said about the Cardinals not replacing Kurt Warner with Matt Leinart at QB just yet? Well, according to this ESPN report, Leinart will start Sunday at Atlanta. It hadn't been confirmed as of Monday night.

I can't say I blame Dennis Green for possibly wanting to bench Warner after his disastrous turnovers .... sometimes Warner treats the football like a hot potato. But is Leinart really ready to play? He does have the luxury of Edgerrin James, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald around him, which automatically makes him intriguing from a fantasy perspective. But keep in mind he's a rookie QB ... if you're in a really deep leauge that allows three QBs, he's worth taking a flyer on, but otherwise I can't recommend him right now over veterans like Chad Pennington or Byron Leftwich or even David Carr who might be available as free agents.

And if you own Kurt Warner, well, I wouldn't dump him outright just now if you have another solid QB and weren't counting on the old guy. Even if Leinart does indeed take over the starting job, it's very early in the season, and there's no guarantee he'll play well enough to keep it. The Cards had designs on a playoff berth this season, so I don't think they're conceding the entire year just yet, and if Leinart gets that deer-in-the-headlights look in his first start, Warner will be back in the mix. Keep in mind a lot of people, myself included, had Warner down as a top-10 fantasy QB this year based on those offensive weapons around him. Maybe we goofed, but we'll just have to wait and see.

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