"For Matt Leinart, the wait is over.

"It is just fun. I am excited. It has been a long time," Leinart, entering his fifth season as a quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, said after an offseason practice.

When Kurt Warner retired in January, he took his 208 career touchdown passes, 32,344 passing yards and various Super Bowl passing records with him. Enter Leinart, who figured to be entrenched as the team's starter by now after being drafted with the 10th overall pick of the 2006 draft.

He came into the NFL as a Heisman Trophy winner from Southern California, with all the glitz and glamour that entails. But now Leinart has to prove himself in the NFL, just as Warner did when he was coming off stints in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe."