Texans Sign Matt Leinart... Really? Wow! That's Nuts!

UPDATE:

John McClain is reporting via twitter that our ever shrewd General Manager and Leinart have agreed to a base deal of $630,000 for 1 year.  Should Leinart be named the 2nd string QB he’ll get $23,125 for every game in which he holds down the No. 2 QB spot.  You ‘da man Rick!

It is now being reported by Adam Schefter, John McClain, and others that the Texans have agreed to terms with Matt Leinart.  After all the dust settles from the last two days of roster moves, including the signings of David Nixon and Jamar Wall, the Texans 53rd roster spot entering week one is Matt “Hot Tub” Leinart.  Strange.

I can’t help but think that Matt Leinart doesn’t fit with the kind of football player the Houston Texans have been collecting the past few years.  So, why am I not alarmed? Perhaps I was content with the roster when it was at 52.  I certainly don’t see Matt Leinart as a threat to Matt Schaub.   Plus, I think I get this move.  It doesn’t cost the Texans anything other than bad hot tub jokes.  Gary Kubiak, for an NFL head coach, is a remarkably humble man.  However, he is arrogant about his ability to coach QBs.  He thought he could repair David Carr and turn him into the franchise QB.  Clearly he did not realize the insanity of such a thought.

That being said, Carr finished the 2006 season completing over 65% of his passes.  And, not one of those completions were checkdowns to Dominick Davis.  He clearly built Sage Rosenfels into a pretty solid QB.  He took an unproven Matt Schaub and has developed him into a near elite NFL QB.  He grabbed Rex Grossman and Dan Orlovsky last season an attempted the same thing with those guys.  Orlovskly is still here, frustrating the heck out of our beloved QB guru.  Grossman is gone but neither have deterred our leader in his arrogant optimism.  Now, he will try the same thing with Matt Leinart.

My guess is the Texans had a high rating on him coming out of the draft and Gary Kubiak believes he can fix all the wrong done to Matty by his coaches that don’t understand the position nearly as well as Coach Kubiak.

We’ll see.  I kind of believe in my man, Gary, too.  Like Coach, I’ve also not been deterred in that belief despite the failures that have passed through the hallowed Reliant Stadium walls.  In the meantime, the Texans are beginning week one practice and preparation for the Indianapolis Colts.  Oh man, now that it is here, I am scared to death.  My emotional stability and optimism is on the line this Sunday… at least until next Sunday.

Note from Barrett:

I’d like to add one more thing that makes this signing a bit of a head scratcher.

The fact that Leinart is left handed changes the protection schemes effectively making Eric Winston the blind side tackle.  Historically under Kubiak, this offense has avoid the opportunity to add wrinkles that complicate it’s consistency.  For example, the “wildcat” was thought almost laughable by Kyle Shanahan last year.  He felt like there were hardly enough reps to perfect the things you do regularly in a game.  Adding gimmick plays that don’t get practiced enough would only increase the likelihood of a mistake in a game.   I can guess that Kubiak shares the same belief.  Leinart’s left handed style adds a subtle wrinkle to the repetition of this offense in practice.  This offense relies heavily on timing, accuracy and decision making.  None of those are traits that Matt Leinart has shown regularly.  Traits such as good looks or being popular in hot tubs aren’t known to help win football games.

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