Matt Leinart: From USC to UFL? What Happened?

The situation between Matt Leinart and the Arizona Cardinals grows messier by the day.

All signs point to head coach Ken Whisenhunt naming former Oregon State and Cleveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson as the starter for the Cards' season opener against the St. Louis Rams, now that Anderson will open Arizona's final preseason contest against the Washington Redskins tonight.

After coming into the preseason as the projected starter, Leinart is upset with his likely role as the second-stringer for the opening game, and justifiably so. The Cardinals drafted Leinart with the 10th overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft after a highly successful (if now tainted) college career at USC.

Leinart struggled when pressed into action early on in his career, but had an opportunity over the last three seasons to grow and learn the intangibles of the position behind two-time league MVP Kurt Warner.

With Warner retiring after another prolific season in 2009, Leinart expected Whisenhunt and the Cards' coaching staff to pass the torch his way. Leinart's case was seemingly boosted by his preseason performance (19 pass completions in 23 attempts, a quarterback rating of over 110) as well as Anderson's career of erratic play following a Pro Bowl season in 2007.

Even so, "Wiz" has chosen Anderson as his guy, rendering the situation between Leinart and the Cardinals just about untenable. Arizona has been reaching out to front offices around the league to gauge the market for their disgruntled quarterback.  Reports have three teams—the Buffalo Bills, the Oakland Raiders, and the New York Giants—in the running, though each already has a starter firmly entrenched at QB (Trent Edwards in Buffalo, Jason Campbell in Oakland, Eli Manning in New York).

Chances are Leinart won't end up in the UFL and will be playing somewhere in the NFL this season.

While speculation about Leinart's destination builds, perhaps the more intriguing question yet to be answered with any satisfaction is how the situation deteriorated to this point.

Speaking to 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore, former Cardinals star and current Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin offered some insight into the situation. When asked whether he was surprised Leinart had failed to secure the starting job in Arizona, Boldin responded:

“Honestly no. That’s just because I’ve been there and witnessed the relationship between both Matt and Coach Whisenhunt. So I’m actually not surprised."

Given the circumstances surrounding the "Discontent in the Desert," news of friction between Whisenhunt and Leinart shouldn't come as a big surprise. The Cardinals have already invested a top draft pick, three years, and millions of dollars in Leinart, fully expecting him to take over for Warner this season and keep Anderson around as the backup.

Any change to this plan, set up by Arizona's front office, would seemingly have been orchestrated by the coaching staff, led by Whisenhunt.

So why exactly has Anderson, whose preseason performance thus far (31-53, 287 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) has left much to be desired, been given the go-ahead with Leinart still around? If Boldin's comments about a strained relationship between Leinart and Whisenhunt are true, what caused the strain?

Following Leinart making his frustrations known to the media, Whisenhunt, appearing on the Scott Van Pelt Show, and addressed his concerns about the former Heisman Trophy winner in a rather thinly veiled manner:

"..there is a lot that goes with [playing quarterback] besides just statistics. It’s more about how you handle the team, how you handle situations. There is a certain quality that you have to have in that position and that is all part of the evaluation process. And I think, more importantly, is how your team responds to that player and how you handle that role."

"I’m not talking about Matt. I’m just saying I feel like he has made great progress in that area, but, for whatever reason, we have not performed the way we have needed to perform as an offense. We have not made the progress that we as a coaching staff felt that we needed to do. So it’s not so much about that person as it is about trying to find the right combination. Once again, I believe Matt can play. I’m not saying that at all. I am just trying to find the best match for our football team."

Really, Ken? You're not talking about Matt, but really you are?

Such comments would suggest the strain between player and coach stems from something beyond numbers.

Leinart's preseason measurables certainly look nice on paper, but even those are tempered by the reality that the vast majority of his completions and attempts came on short, simple plays and not on deep balls or more difficult routes.

Apparently, Leinart, at least in Whisenhunt's eyes, isn't exactly Mr. Intangible, which is understandable considering Leinart's reputation for spending too much of his free time schmoozing with celebrities and living the Los Angeles lifestyle, and too little of it improving his game.

Perhaps Whisenhunt sees Leinart's continued dissatisfaction with his role on the team as a symptom of a greater sense of entitlement, stemming in part from his incredibly successful college career.

It's difficult to say what exactly Leinart lacks in Whisenhunt's eyes because the deficiencies, aside from the quarterback's weak throwing arm, are themselves intangible. Even if he has demonstrated the most complete knowledge and greatest control of the Cards' offense of any quarterback on the roster, Leinart may still lack the leadership necessary for the position to get the likes of Larry Fitzgerald to perform at his best for him.

Of course, it doesn't help that Leinart's own coach doesn't even have his back. If such is the case, how can anyone else in Arizona be expected to?

Clearly, there's something else going on here, something beyond X's and O's and the game of football that is widening the rift between Matt Leinart and the Arizona Cardinals. Widening it to the point where he may very well be playing football elsewhere once the regular season kicks off.

Regardless of where the predicament goes from here, it seems as though this debacle is the continuation of a trend that's been building since Leinart played at USC: USC, one way or another, losing to Oregon State.