Editor's note: Clark Judge, Pete Prisco and Mike Freeman are traveling to every NFL training camp and filing daily reports and analysis. Next camp report from Judge: Chargers
Cardinals: Five things | 
Judge
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- It's the best quarterback controversy not involving Mike McCarthy and Brett Favre, and it's one that could determine the outcome of the NFC West.
I'm talking about Matt Leinart vs. Kurt Warner, and while Leinart has been tapped as Arizona's starter this season, you're making a mistake if you rule out Warner.
| Community Focus | |
 One man vs. One fan | |
Cardinals-fan Treymundo: "Playoffs would be a good step forward We have the players in place, it's time for the Cardinals to step it up." |
First, he has the experience Leinart does not. Second, he threw 27 touchdowns passes last year in a season he calls one of his best ... ever. Third, and most important, the coaching staff here is saying it plans to start the guy who gives the Cards the best chance to win.
And that could be Warner.
"I understand why you would name Matt the starter," said Warner. "I think we all can see the big picture. I understand that, if everything were perfect, they would want Matt to be the starter for 10 years.
"And, as a friend, I want Matt to have all the success, too. But where it gets difficult is that I believe I'm a proven commodity and that every time I've been given an opportunity, I've performed at an extremely high level. Nothing against Matt, but I believe I give us some advantages he doesn't at this point and time of his career."
The most obvious one is that Warner is road-tested. He's been to two Super Bowls, won two MVPs and is coming off a season where, in essence, he put himself back on the NFL radar. Until leading the Cardinals to an 8-8 finish, their first non-losing season since 1998, Warner was viewed as a broken-down quarterback who took too many chances and committed too many errors.
Then 2007 came along, with Warner playing so well we now have an honest-to-goodness quarterback controversy in Arizona.
| Out of Nowhere Man |
 Tight end Ben Patrick is a seventh-round draft pick who, like Joe Flacco, played at the University of Delaware. Both had their skeptics. But it's best not to underestimate these guys. Flacco will start sooner or later in Baltimore, while Patrick could start sooner for the Cardinals. He's an outstanding receiver who runs well and picks up things easily. He should. He earned a degree at Duke, where he led the team in receptions two years before transferring to Delaware for his final season of eligibility. Patrick's competition is Leonard Pope, who is coming off leg injuries and, at 6-feet-8, has trouble blocking in an offense that wants to run the football. Don't be surprised if Patrick wins the job by the opener. |
| Who is your Out of Nowhere Man? |
"I'm not trying to convince them that I can play or that I can read coverages or that I know what I'm doing in this offense," said Warner. "They understand that part of it.
"I'm just trying to convince them that what they saw last year is at least what they're going to see this year -- if not more."
Leinart, on the other hand, is trying to convince the coaching staff of all those things. He seemed on his way last season before bowing out with a broken collarbone, but his development continued as he helped offensive coordinator Todd Haley with scouting reports and, later, when he spent the offseason working out at the team's facility.
During that time, he refined his footwork and his throwing motion, as well as absorbed everything he could with this offense, and coaches seem were so impressed, coach Ken Whisenhunt didn't hesitate to name him his starter months ago.
But that can change, and Leinart knows it. And here's why: If he's to lead the Arizona Cardinals, he must behave like the team's leader; he must behave like, well, Kurt Warner.
And he knows it.
But it's not just the coaches he must convince; it's his teammates, too. When they hear stories of what's going on with Leinart off the field or call up on the internet photographs of Leinart's beer bash this spring, they have to wonder.
And so does his head coach.
"He'll be OK," Whisenhunt told me at the NFL owners' meetings. "He just needs to grow up."
Leinart understands. In fact, he's gone out of his way to persuade coaches, teammates and fans that, yes, he is serious about this business and that he's a pro quarterback they can trust.
"I don't feel it's a make-or-break year," he said, "but I approach it as a year where I have to go out there and, not necessarily win over my teammates, but I have to be the quarterback I know I can be and that my teammates know I can be.
"And that's it. I think my teammates have confidence in me. I think they know I can get the job done. I just have to do out there and play and stay healthy.
"I've put the time and the work in during this offseason and during last season when I was hurt to get to this point. And I feel light years ahead of where I was last year."
The biggest difference, everyone says, is not with Leinart's arm but with his head. He's more confident in what he does. He no longer thinks plays through; he reads and reacts. And instead of worrying about formations or coverages he simply puts the ball where he knows it should go.
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| Coach Ken Whisenhunt has seen positives from Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart. (US Presswire) |
"It's like, 'Wow, you're arm looks a lot stronger even though it may not be,'" said Leinart. "'Your footwork looks a lot quicker even though it's probably the same.'
"You're just more balanced with everything because you know where you're going with the football, and that's the biggest thing that's happened to me this summer."
The biggest thing that happened to him in the offseason was that exposure he gained on the Internet, with photographs of a little-too-happy Leinart at a party he hosted. It was nothing out of the ordinary for a 25-year-old, but it's not exactly what you'd expect from the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.
"When that happened," said Leinart, "it was tough to deal with, but it was something you learn from. I've never made an excuse about it and never said anything. You take it like a man and move on.
"I could say all these things if I wanted. But it doesn't really matter. It happened, and I was disappointed. I was disappointed for my family and my son. But you learn from it.
"Even with all that stuff, I know my teammates have my back. I know they supported me. All my coaches saw how hard I was working so something like that ... I didn't look it as a setback; I just looked at it as kind of a road block."
Well, the road block has been lifted, and Leinart has a chance to do something now he was supposed to do when the club made him its first-round draft pick in 2006 -- and that's start.
He's more confident. He's more comfortable. And he seems more at ease with himself. Now the question is: How does all that translate on the field?
"What I've been through the past couple of years," he said, referring to off-the-field events, "has had an impact. Fatherhood (he has a 2-year-old son) changes you and makes you grow up in the best way possible. That's changed my life and made me more mature as a person.
"And that reflects on my job. I have to carry myself as a pro ... Going into training camp, I'm not out there to prove anything to anybody or to change this perception people have of me. I'm out there to prove I'm a quarterback, that I can be a winner and that I can get this team to the next level. I think everything takes care of itself after that."
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Sleeper ... Khalil Greene: At age 27, Greene broke out with 27 homers, 97 RBI, 89 runs and a .468 slugging percentage -- all career highs. At age 28 last year, Greene was a mess, slumping to just .213-10-35-30-5. The rebuilding and cost-cutting Padres then dealt him to the Cardinals this winter, where he should find himself in a far more potent lineup and a much better hitter's park, especially with respect to homers. San Diego's Petco Park is death on hitters. St. Louis' park allowed the journeyman Ludwick to enjoy a 37-homer season at age 29. That, coincidentally, is Greene's age this year and we should see him return to being a top 15, perhaps a top 10 Fantasy option. He won't go off the board until at least 20 other shortstops are taken, so consider Greene an outstanding last-round pick in mixed leagues and a superb flier in NL-only formats. Bust ... Troy Glaus: We thought about making Ludwick the Cardinals' bust, but we didn't have the guts to do it. See, Rick Ankiel is returning from abdominal surgery and will be available to protect Pujols in the cleanup spot, possibly allowing Ludwick to go back where he started in the two-hole. Instead, our bust is the older and far more brittle Glaus, who suddenly required shoulder surgery this January. He woke up one day this winter and realized he was going to be this year's Travis Hafner, who had similar shoulder weakness a year ago. Glaus got his shoulder cleaned out and might still be available for opening day, but, if you follow this website and this writer in particular, you know shoulder injuries notoriously sap a slugger's power. We cannot be sure Glaus will ever be the same and advise you to just avoid him altogether on Draft Day. Breakout ... Adam Wainwright: We have already mentioned Wainwright in our story on breakthrough 27-year-olds and ranked him No. 1 in our story on third-year starting pitchers. Yeah, we are pretty bullish on Wainwright becoming a big-time Fantasy ace. He is already valued among the top 30 starters to target on Draft Day, but the pitcher we once called the next Carpenter could be on the verge of a Cy Young-caliber season. He can be a relatively low-investment mound ace in the middle rounds on Draft Day. We project 15-8 with a 3.63, 154 strikeouts and a 1.28 WHIP, but if you could guarantee us a full season of health and 210 innings, we would think those are baseline numbers of what he is capable of doing. -- Eric Mack Top Cardinals Prospects ('09 destination) 1. Colby Rasmus, OF, Triple-A 2. Jess Todd, RHP, Triple-A 3. David Freese, 3B, Majors 4. John Jay, OF, Triple-A 5. Daryl Jones, OF, Triple-A |
| Cardinals Fantasy outlook | '09 Draft Prep |
One problem: Kurt Warner is in the way and is equally determined to win a job that, at least for now, belongs to Leinart.
"Let's not forget what Kurt did last year," said Whisenhunt. "I've said, 'Let's not forget what Matt did, either,' and that's why he's named the starter. He had a great drive in the fourth quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers that essentially won the game for us and showed he could be a big-time quarterback. And the next week he got hurt.
"But, with that being said, let's also not forget the progress Kurt made and that our offense made with Kurt doing it. We have two quarterbacks who can play in this league."
Only one of them can start. Watch closely, people, because Arizona's future and the power structure of the NFC West could depend on how this shakes out.
"We're competing for the same job," said Leinart, "and he's trying to take it from me. And that's the way you have to approach it because it's a job. And that's what has motivated me this offseason and this training camp to step up and be the guy I know I can be."
Good, but remember what I said: Don't sell Warner short. He wants to start, he believes in himself and he thinks he has three more years of solid football left. Now, all that's left is to sell himself to the Arizona coaching staff.
Let the games begin.
"I want to do everything so well," said Warner, "that they have to say, 'We want Matt, and we think he's improved and we think Matt's going to be a good quarterback ... but we can't start him; we can't go against Kurt because he's something special and because he can do something special for us that nobody else in this camp can do right now.,
"That's what I would like to prove to them, and that's my goal every day -- to show them I can do that consistently and that I can be the best guy for this organization right now."
