Houston Texans release veteran QB Matt Leinart, right tackle Eric Winston – NFL News
The Houston Texans announced on Monday, March 12, 2012, to have cut quarterback, Matt Leinart, rather unfortunate news for the player whose career has been marked with inconsistency since becoming pro in 2006.
Since the free agency starts at 4.00 pm Tuesday, March 13, 2012, the QB is immediately available as an unrestricted free agent to interested suitors.
Leinart was brought in by Texans as a replacement to their injured QB, Matt Schaub, in 2010-11 National Football League (NFL) season.
Unfortunately, he played for only half an hour in his first game since 2009 and was forced out on the sidelines with an apparent shoulder injury.
Scans results later showed that the injury was a collarbone similar to the one Leinart had suffered in 2007 and was ruled out for rest of the season.
Now after the release, he faces prospects of moving elsewhere in the league off the free agency. The next destination is unknown yet.
The Houston Texans signed Leinart just before the start of 2010-11 NFL season. He was released by the Arizona Cardinals in 2009 due to some differences with their head coach.
Even though Leinart had been competing for the starting position with other teams, he offered to sign Texans as a backup. He did get the starting role when Schaub was out with a foot injury during past season.
With Leinart gone, the team was left to rookie QB, T.J.Yates, at the starting position, while it had hired the couple of veterans, Jake Delhomme and Jeff Garcia, as a backup. Both players, who had come out of their retirement to join Texans, are still with
the team.
Texans are also expecting Schaub to rejoin them sometime just before the regular season, and with presence Yates and other veterans on the squad, Leiart’s exit was inevitable.
Meanwhile, Texans also confirmed to have released right tackle, Eric Winston. The player himself confirmed the news through his Twitter postings.
He said:
"Unfortunately I have bad news. The Texans have decided to release me today. Although it is a surprise, I have nothing but positive memories. And great relationships that I have built over the years. While my future seems uncertain, I am confident I will
land on my feet."
He thanked the fans and team officials for being supportive to him during his stay at Texans.
The development might have come very hard on the player, but the release is projected to save the Houston Texans an estimated amount of $4.5 million.
Texans are the reigning American Football Conference (AFC) South division winners and the feat came for the first time in their franchise history despite so many injury scares.
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