Matt Leinart told Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak he wanted a chance to compete for a starting job, John McClain reports.
Why, then, would Leinart choose the Texans over the Seattle Seahawks when agreeing to contract terms Tuesday?
Leinart wasn't going to get very good money in Seattle after the Seahawks gave Tarvaris Jackson about $4 million per season, about what Charlie Whitehurst was already earning from the team.
Leinart would have come to Seattle in the No. 3 role, but he would have been closer to getting a shot to start with the Seahawks than with the Texans, in my view. Matt Schaub is the Texans' starter unless he gets hurt. Even then, Schaub would remain the starter once he returned to health.
Leinart might have started out as the third option in Seattle, but he would have been jumping into an unsettled situation. Seattle hasn't committed to Jackson or Whitehurst nearly to the degree Houston has committed to Schaub.
But if Leinart sensed the Seahawks were only lukewarm about adding him to their team, returning where he was most wanted could have felt right. Seattle had a chance to pursue Leinart last offseason, but the team passed even though coach Pete Carroll and Leinart were together at USC. The fact that Carroll liked Leinart as a college quarterback might not have carried over to the NFL.