Matt Leinart

Not sure how this is news but the home sale was featured in AZRepublic:

Before last February, when Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart moved to a gated community real estate agents have nicknamed “the Beverly Hills of Chandler,” he lived in this 6,800-square-foot house on an Ahwatukee Custom Estates cul de sac.

Now it can be yours, if you can swing the $2.4 million price tag.

The Tuscan-style estate has six bedrooms, 6.5 baths, 9-foot flat ceilings, and a game room. The kitchen features Viking appliances and two sub-zero refrigerators.

It’s not clear whether the celebrity football player ever entertained Paris Hilton in Ahwatukee when the two were an item.

But who cares? The backyard of this place would impress anyone from Hollywood with spectacular mountain views and a terraced pool with built-in a slide and rock waterfall.

Hot Tuna pro surfer Bron Heussenstamm is scheduled to co-host a radio show with Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Matt Leinart on KTAR-AM, Sports 620, April 22, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Pacific). Internet surfers can listen online at sports.KTAR.com.

Rumored guest include: USC Head Coaches Pete Carroll (USC) and Ken Wisenhunt (Arizona Cardinals); pro football stars Reggie Bush (New Orleans), Shawn Merriman (San Diego), Edgerrin James (Arizona) and Matt Cassel (New England); as well as several top NFL draft picks.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart and Daisy the Dairy Cow teamed up Friday in Scottsdale to encourage Navajo Elementary School students to eat healthy. Students from Navajo’s Breakfast Club, a program that offers students free breakfast and day care in the morning, won the visit through a Dairy Council of Arizona drawing. About 80 third-graders and a few older students cheered as Leinart and the cow mascot, who stopped to give several students hugs, entered the school’s cafeteria. Leinart and Laura Trujillo, director of nutrition services for the Dairy Council, started by quizzing the students on milk facts, explained that chocolate milk has all the nutrients white milk does and encouraged healthy diets.

“I always drank, honestly, at least three glasses of milk a day,” Leinart said. Leinart then answered students’ questions about what it’s like to be a football player. “A lot of guys bend the rules, trying to win the game,” he said. “But it’s all for fun, really.” Sixth-grade students Dominic Bergs and Jordan Coomber said they were excited to meet Leinart. “My heart was, like, going,” Jordan said. The two students got to interview Leinart for “Bear Essential News,” a newspaper made up of articles written by elementary school students around the state. They said Leinart answered a variety of questions.

About 170 students attend Navajo’s Breakfast Club, which started about 1 1/2 years ago, said principal Clay McAllester. Navajo is a Title I school — 50 percent of its students qualify for free and reduced price lunch programs — and a lot of parents don’t have time to make breakfast, McAllester added.

Sat.Mar.17, & Sun. Mar.18 – Matt Leinart Kids Clinic

Arizona Cardinals Facility(8701 S. Hardy Drive)Tempe, AZ 85284

The camp will be held on the practice fields of the Cardinals Facility. This is a free camp for approx. 200 kids, ages 13-17 (or entering HS in the fall of 2007) focusing on the skills to succeed at the quarterback position. The tentative camp schedule is as follows:

* 8:00 A – 9:00 A Check-in
* 9:00 A – 9:15 A Introduction
* 9:15 A – 9:30 A Stretching/Calisthenics
* 9:30 A – 11:00 A On Field Session
* 11:00 A – 12:30 P Video Session
* 12:30 P – 1:30 P On Field Session
* 1:30 P – 2:30 P Weight Training Instructions
* 2:30 P – 3:00 P Conditioning Instructions
* 3:00 P – End of Camp & Food Service

For additional information, please contact Luis Zendejas, Arizona Cardinals Director of Community Relations, at 602-379-1874.

Register here.

Will be assistant head coach and coach the O-line.

Two weeks after interviewing to be Arizona’s head coach, Russ Grimm on Tuesday was named the Cardinals’ assistant head coach and offensive line coach, the same position he held in Pittsburgh the last three seasons.Grimm joins the staff of Ken Whisenhunt, his colleague under former Steelers coach Bill Cowher.”Obviously I know Russ very well from our time together with the Steelers and adding a coach of his caliber to the staff is tremendous,” Whisenhunt said in a statement released by the club.Grimm’s hiring comes two days after erroneous media reports in Pittsburgh that he would be hired to succeed Cowher. The Steelers instead hired former Minnesota defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Grimm spent the last six seasons as an assistant with the Steelers. He spent the previous 19 years with the Washington Redskins — as an all-pro guard for 11 seasons (1981-91) and then as an assistant coach for eight (1992-2000).Grimm is the fifth assistant to join Whisenhunt’s staff. He joins defensive backs coach Teryl Austin, linebackers coach Billy Davis, strength and conditioning coach John Lott, and special teams coach Kevin Spencer.

Cheers, Norm walks into the bar, we are happy.

A few weeks before the Cardinals fired coach Dennis Green, running back Edgerrin James was asked for his opinion on frequent speculation that Green would be dumped.

James said he didn’t think about it one way or another as long as the franchise was willing to “do right by the quarterback.” The quarterback, of course, is Matt Leinart. Leinart apparently has an idea how the team can “do right” by him.

It’s no surprise, but Leinart is going to push for the Cards to hire Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow for Arizona’s vacant head coaching job, a source with knowledge of the situation said. Chow was Leinart’s offensive coordinator at USC.

Chow is one of eight candidates the Cards have interviewed or will be interviewing for the job. Chow is scheduled to meet with the Cardinals Monday in Tempe.

Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill and vice president of football operations Rod Graves were in San Diego Saturday interviewing Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

Today, they will be in Indianapolis to talk to Colts assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell.

Leinart is expected not only to lobby the team to hire Chow, but also try to persuade teammates such as James, receiver Anquan Boldin and safety Adrian Wilson that Chow is the right choice.

Graves already said that the team hoped to have key players get a chance to interact with some of the candidates when they came to Arizona.

Privately, some players also said late in the season that they hoped to have some input on who the new coach would be, although they weren’t sure the organization would do such a thing.

If Graves and Bidwill do ask players for their opinions, Leinart’s will certainly be one of them.

It is not a coincidence that other than in-house defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast and Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera — who may be the hottest assistant on the market — the rest of the Cards’ candidates have offensive backgrounds.

Graves called Leinart the “center of our future moving forward” after the season, and Rivera said the biggest thing Graves and Bidwill wanted to know during his interview was how he planned to handle Leinart.

The Cards know they are set at the position if Leinart is used correctly, and the candidates understand that as well.

“Young quarterbacks that have a bright future like he does are hard to find,” said candidate Ken Whisenhunt, currently the Steelers offensive coordinator.

Cameron has been credited not only with the emergence of current Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers but also former Charger Drew Brees’. Caldwell has quietly played a big role in the development of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

But no one would put Leinart in a comfort zone as much as Chow, given their history together.

Chow is 60, however, and has never been a head coach on any level. He also has only two years of experience on the NFL level.

“I do really want that job,” Chow told SI.com last week. “Obviously, it would be a great opportunity and a lot of fun working with Matt again, because you already know the young man so well.”

Polaroid, global manufacturer of consumer electronics, announced today it has signed Matt Leinart, first round draft pick of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and winner of the 2004 Heisman Trophy, to a seven-figure, multi-year sponsorship deal. Polaroid, with parent company, Petters Group Worldwide, announced the sponsorship at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. “Matt Leinart is one of the most exciting athletes in all of professional sports,” said Polaroid CEO Mike O’Shaughnessy. “His history of winning and sense of competitive fair play exemplifies the Polaroid brand. We look forward to building a long term relationship with Matt to further enhance Polaroid’s growing portfolio of consumer electronics.”
“I’m excited to be aligned with a brand I not only have in my home, but one that my family and friends have used for years,” Leinart said.
“Polaroid products, like my large screen flat panel TV, portable DVD player, and digital camera, are fun, affordable, and easy-to-use. And Polaroid has always been a company with standards that are consistent with my own values.” As part of the agreement, Leinart will appear in Polaroid’s national advertising campaigns. Leinart will also be a featured guest in the Polaroid booth (Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall, booth no. 13614)
at CES on January 9 from 11:30 to 1:00pm. In addition, Leinart will closely partner with parent company Petters Group Worldwide and O’Shaughnessy Holdings, LLC, in the development and launch of several innovative and solution-focused consumer products.

About Polaroid
Polaroid Corporation, a company of Petters Group Worldwide, designs,
develops, manufactures and markets a variety of consumer electronics
products including LCD TVs, portable DVD players, digital cameras, GPS,
instant cameras and film, and more, all of which are marketed worldwide.
Polaroid offers retailers a merchandising solution to higher profits
through a full line of products backed with one of the most recognized
brand names in the world. For more information, visit
http://www.polaroid.com .
“Polaroid” and “Polaroid and Pixel” are trademarks of Polaroid
Corporation, Waltham, MA, USA.

CES Celebrities 

Grading the Rookie First Rounders: Arizona QB Matt Leinart With the 2006 regular season in the books, we’ll take a look back at the rookie first-rounders and see how they fared in their first year in the league.

In terms of value per play, Matt Leinart ranked 17th among all NFL quarterbacks and first among rookies. Pretty good for a guy who lost more games in his first professional season than he did in his entire collegiate career.

Leinart started 11 games, completed 56.8 percent of his passes, threw for 2,547 yards, had 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Heading into the season, the plan was for Leinart to learn by watching — the Cardinals still had veteran Kurt Warner under contract — but the New York/Arizona Warner was nothing like the St. Louis one. After an abysmal start to the season — even by Arizona standards — then head coach Denny Green benched Warner in favor of Leinart.

There’s no doubt it was the right decision, even if the Cardinals’ offensive line wasn’t very good. Arizona’s new coach will inherit two legitimate weapons at wide out, a running back who might still have a little bit left in the tank, and a franchise quarterback to distribute the ball. Who knows, maybe next year will finally be the Cardinals’ year.

Grade: B+