FanHouse MattLeinart

When the Cardinals drafted Matt Leinart 10th overall in the 2006 draft, just about everybody thought it was a perfect marriage. Arizona, the perpetual dark-horse candidate, finally had a franchise quarterback; Leinart, who had excelled in a pro-style offense at USC, was experienced beyond his years and it would only be a matter of time before he assumed the full-time job.

It didn't quite work out like that -- Leinart started 11 games as a rookie and held his own, but he only had five starts in 2007, and spent all of last season watching Kurt Warner lead Arizona to the Super Bowl. Part of the problem was that Leinart struggled with the offense, but there were bigger concerns with his maturity.

So, how has Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart been spending his offseason? Why, he's doing some MMA training with FOX Sports' NFL reporter, Jay Glazer, of course.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

In the past few years, NFL quarterback Matt Leinart has been in the spotlight for all kinds of reasons, but not always for his on-field play. In this exclusive video we find out what Matt does when there are no cameras around and why he is considered a hero to some Los Angeles inner-city kids. As it turns out, Leinart -- USC's former Heisman Trophy winner -- owns and operates his own youth football league. In it, 150 kids, who otherwise could not afford to participate in such activities, are provided with equipment, lunch and transportation at no cost. Beyond football, though, Miguel Perez -- who coaches in the Leinart league -- says being part of a sports team can positively change a child's life.

Check out the video after the jump.

NEW YORK -- Mark Sanchez wasn't at USC's spring practice Saturday, but when Trojans coach Pete Carroll called that night to congratulate Sanchez on being the No. 5 pick in the NFL draft, he gleefully told his former quarterback the story of what went down.

"He said they had a live feed of the draft on the Megatron video board there at the Coliseum," Sanchez said Sunday at Radio City Music Hall. "And every time an SC guy got picked, they'd stop practice. And he said when they showed that Cleveland had traded the (fifth) pick and that the Jets picked me, he said 25,000 people just went nuts."

Sanchez also admitted that Carroll must have been stopping practice a lot.

If you're Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the last year hasn't been so bad. Think about it: You had 96 catches for 1,431 yards and 12 touchdowns during the regular season; you had three touchdowns in the NFC Championship Game, you had two more touchdowns in Super Bowl XLIII (so what if you wound up losing the game?), and you're named the MVP of the Pro Bowl. Not a bad year, right?

Well, things just got a little bit better for Larry on Friday, as it was announced that he was the cover guy for EA's Madden NFL 10 (along with Pittsburgh's Troy Polamalu).

So what does Larry think about being on the cover? Why is he sure he's going to reverse the Madden Curse? What's the latest on Anquan Boldin's contract situation? And why does he think Matt Leinart is the next Steve Young? I asked Larry all of these questions and more during some time here in New York. Read the full interview after the jump.

Even though Kurt Warner just signed a two-year deal to stay in Arizona, Matt Leinart is still a play away, as they say. Except that if you believe the other Cardinals backup, Brian St. Pierre, who told his hometown paper that head coach Ken Whisenhunt promised him the opportunity to win the backup gig.

On its face, it sounds preposterous. Leinart was the team's 2006 first-round pick; St. Pierre was drafted by the Steelers as a late-round afterthought and spent the first few years of his NFL career toiling away on the practice squad.

As the AP wire let us know Wednesday morning, Kurt Warner and his agent have made another counter-proposal to the Cardinals. The man who lead the Arizona Cardinals to their best season in franchise history racked up 4,583 yards (2nd in the league) and 30 touchdowns (third in the league) through the air in 2008. His 96.9 quarterback rating was the third best in the NFL.

The Cardinals have plenty of cap space, yet they won't offer Warner top-5 quarterback money. While people in Arizona are scratching their heads -- and that's putting it mildly, according to Phoenix resident Shane Bacon -- Warner is trying to make concessions just to stay a Cardinal.

Kurt Warner has returned from San Francisco with his free-agent status still intact. Somehow, the Cardinals must've known that he would make his way back to the Valley of the Sun, even though both sides have been several million dollars apart on a contract for weeks.

If you're Arizona, its seems like an awfully dangerous risk to take; if Warner calls the Cards' bluff and signs elsewhere -- ready or not -- we're immediately ushered into the Matt Leinart era. And if history is any indication, that's not exactly a recipe for getting back to the Super Bowl.

Matt Cassel is now the Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback, thanks in large part to new teammate Bernard Pollard, the man responsible for ending Tom Brady's 2008 season 15 minutes after it began and paving the way for Cassel's emergence.

The talk of Cassel's offseason value began sometime around Thanksgiving, shortly after he had put together back-to-back 400-yard passing performances. He would finish out the season with a quarterback rating of more than 100 in five of the final seven games, and before the Patriots franchised him in early February, the consensus was that Cassel was the best available free-agent quarterback -- by a wide margin.

As Scott Pioli's rebuild of the Kansas City Chiefs continues, Adam Schefter of NFL.com is reporting that the team has acquired quarterback Matt Cassel from the New England Patriots. Peter King reports the deal as being Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel -- who was reportedly dealt to Kansas City on Friday -- for Kansas City's second round pick in 2009.