Fantasy Trader's Football Roundtable: What to Make of Matt Leinart?

I’ve been invited to participate in Fantasy Trader’s fantasy football roundtable.

This week’s topic :
Given what we know (or think we know) about about Matt Leinart, what are your expectations for the Arizona Cardinals in 2010?

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My response :
I may be one of the only people that actually like the party boy. He has the talent and the pedigree. Maturity has been his main issue. He felt he was entitled to the job because he was a top draft pick. He didn’t work hard.

Now with the future Hall of Famer out of the picture, Leinart has the opportunity to seize the gig. He has had several years to study under one of the best, not only in his ability, but in the way he prepared for games. I’ll give Leinart the benefit of the doubt that he learned from that experience.

He has great weapons, with or without Anquan Boldin. The Cardinals should have an improved rushing attack with Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower. He won’t be required to throw as often as Warner did.

Though he failed to throw a TD this year, he did complete a career high 66.2% of his passes. I won’t say he looked totally comfortable when he spelled Kurt Warner against the Saints, but he managed to complete 7 of 10 passes for 61 yards.

I certainly wouldn’t want him as a fantasy starter, but he’s a nice low risk/high reward backup option. Before I draft him though, I want to see him take the OTAs and training camp seriously. If he shows me he’s serious, I’ll be serious about him. If not, I’ll contact Jeff Gillooly as a Larry Fitzgerald owner.