NFL: Should Houston Texans Quarterback Matt Leinart Be Considered a Bust?

During the 2006 NFL draft, many teams that needed a quarterback passed on USC's Matt Leinart—and most of us, including myself, thought that they were crazy.

However, looking back on it now, they were 100 percent right—Leinart is undoubtedly a big-time bust, and the Arizona Cardinals were well-aware of that last preseason when they cut the former Heisman Trophy winner. 

Most of the football world can agree that Leinart is a bust, but when you ask Leinart, he feels a bit different. 

Leinart believes that he should not be considered a bust as it wasn't his fault that he could not beat out Kurt Warner for Arizona's starting quarterback job. 

"Kurt Warner played himself into the Hall of Fame in the last three years," Leinart told SportsRadioInterviews.com. "There’s not a lot I can do about that. I battled with a Hall of Famer two training camps in a row. I thought I competed as well as he did and obviously Kurt was a great player. He took us to a Super Bowl. I truly believe he got himself into the Hall of Fame those last couple of years."

Leinart played a total of 29 games in four seasons with the Cardinals and he tossed only 15 touchdown passes while being picked off 20 times as he posted an extremely mediocre 70.8 passer rating. 

Leinart's time ended in Arizona as he was cut in the middle of the preseason, while he was in the midst of a quarterback battle with Derek Anderson. 

"Last year with everything that happened it just didn’t work out," Leinart said during the interview. 

Following his release, Leinart decided to sign with the Houston Texans, a one year-deal to back-up Matt Schaub. Leinart did not throw a pass as a Texan as he did not play in any game during 2010. 

Now, Leinart is one of the many players who are in free agent "limbo," thanks to the lockout, and according to Houston Chronicle, the Houston Texans would "love" to re-sign him. 

As of right now, despite what Leinart believes, he is a complete bust—thanks to his erratic play and his persona as being labeled as a "party boy."

Leinart does have talent and has a short window of opportunity in front of him to redeem himself, but it's going to be quite a hike up this enormous mountain that he is currently facing. 

This article was first seen at PatriotsPlus.net. Be sure to follow Tony Santorsa on Twitter @      TonySantorsa.