Keyboard Quarterbacks

By Mark La Monica

There appears to be a negative aura surrounding USC quarterback Matt Leinart being drafted No. 10 by the Arizona Cardinals.

People seem to be wondering or writing in hushed tones about how Leinart, considered by many to be the best quarterback available in the 2006 NFL Draft, “fell” to the 10th spot.

They point to 2005, when Leinart decided to return to USC for his senior year and forego being the virtually guaranteed No. 1 pick by the 49ers. That honor – and the 1/11 touchdown/interception ratio and 40.8 passer rating – went to Alex Smith of Utah.

By not turning pro last year and becoming the 10th pick this year, Leinart likely cost himself a handful of millions of dollars in his first contract.

However, Leinart actually won out in this deal. Not so much in the bank account for the next few years, but for so many other reasons.

1) Arizona has a real running back in Edgerrin James, a four-time Pro Bowler with 49 100-plus yard games rushing. Never underestimate how much a dominant running back positively affects a quarterback’s performance. James ran for 1,506 yards last year with the Colts. The 49ers as a team ran for 1,689 yards.

2) Arizona has Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, a pair of supremely talented wide receivers, to catch Leinart’s passes. Fitzgerald tied Carolina’s Steve Smith for the league lead with 103 receptions. Boldin tied St. Louis’ Torry Holt for second with 102. Fitzgerald had 1,409 receiving yards, Boldin 1,402. They are the only teammates to rank in the top 10 in both categories last year. The top receiver for the 49ers last year was Brandon Lloyd (48 receptions, 733 yards) and he’s with the Redskins now.

Whoa, this is starting to look more and more like the supporting cast Leinart had at USC when he went 37-2 as a starter, won a pair of national championships, won the 2004 Heisman Trophy and played in a third straight national title game in January 2006.

3) Dennis Green is the head coach in Arizona. He has a reputation for molding quarterbacks and offenses. He also happened to lead the Vikings to eight playoff appearances with seven different quarterbacks in his 10 years, including two NFC Championship games. Clearly, Green can coach. The 49ers’ Mike Nolan begins his second season as head coach, and the first five words of his bio on the team’s Web site are “A highly successful defensive mind.” Not to say Nolan won’t be a good head coach, but Green has more experience.  Plus, Norv Turner is the new offensive coordinator in San Francisco, which means Smith is going to have to learn a completely new system in just his second year. Not exactly the best way to go about beginning a career.

4) So long as Kurt Warner leaves out the part about excessive fumbling, multiple concussions and crazy wives, he’ll be a very good mentor for Leinart.

5) The Cardinals have been in the playoffs precisely one time since 1976 (they were a wild card team in 1998), so the pressure to live up to a franchise tradition does not exist. If he falters in Arizona, it’s not as awful as in San Francisco. The 49ers have five Super Bowl championships and the inevitable comparisons to Joe Montana would have surfaced within minutes, creating unnecessary pressure on the rookie Leinart.

6) Arizona is getting a new stadium. Leinart can become the face of the franchise, and he’s got three proven players at the skill positions to join him on the billboards.

And that’s just looking ahead. Let’s look back at what treats he enjoyed during an extra year on campus in Southern California.

1) Hollywood stature for an athlete. And a Paris Hilton-esque cell phone address book of celebrity friends.

2) The Rose Bowl. Did you see that game? If not, please e-mail me and I’ll send you the tape. Easily the greatest game of the last three or four years. Sure, USC lost to Texas and No. 3 pick Vince Young, but who cares? The game was crazy.

3) The Notre Dame game. Did you see that game? If not, please e-mail me and I’ll send you the tape. Easily the second greatest game of the last three or four years. Sure, USC beat Notre Dame on a last-second Leinart touchdown (with help from No. 2 pick Reggie Bush) but who cares? The game was crazy.

4) Ballroom Dancing. It was the only class Leinart took his final semester. Three reasons this is good:

  - A semester with just one class is something we all dreamed about in college and this guy pulled it off.
  - Ladies love a fella who can dance with class, so as if he didn’t already have an advantage over us mere mortals, there’s one more.
  - He’s that much closer to being on Dancing With the Stars, which could mean more money to help balance out the missing loot from not turning pro in 2005.

5) One more year of carefree, no-real-life-responsibility living. Who among us doesn’t want that?

Not everything is about money.