Profootballtalk.com Reports That Leinart Team Wanted Steinberg Fired Because Houston Would Not Trade Up To Get USC Signal Caller

I found this item at Profootballtalk.com:

LEINART CAMP TRYING TO PERSUADE TITANS TO TAKE MATT

The same source who tipped us off over the weekend to the looming termination of agent Leigh Steinberg by USC quarterback Matt Leinart tells us that the driving force behind the change was the lack of interest that the Titans were demonstrating in the 2004 Heisman winner.

The source says that Titans G.M. Floyd Reese is leaning toward Texas quarterback Vince Young, and Titans coach Jeff Fisher and offensive coordinator Norm Chow want Leinart.

The source also tells us that Chow recently informed Leinart that Reese won't trade up to the No. 1 overall spot in order to get Leinart.

Co-agent Chuck Price, who will remain a member of Team Leinart in the wake of the Steinberg termination, supposedly has told Reese that the failure to land Leinart will be the biggest draft gaffe in team history.

Apparently, Reese is now on the fence.

Per the source, Leinart will sign with Tom Condon after the five-day waiting period expires following Leinart's termination, and Condon and Price will work together. Condon's pitch, as we recently heard, was that he'll get either the Titans or the Jets to trade up to No. 1 with the Houston Texans.

The long-term plan, we're told, is for Price to learn the ropes of the agent business over the next couple of years, with an eye toward being the lead agent for Leinart's second contract. (We suspect that Condon hasn't gotten that memo.)

The broader question, as we see it, is whether these goings-on will raise a red flag for any team that otherwise will be interested in Leinart. There's already a question as to whether he has a sufficient passion for the pro game. And his pro day workout was hardly a show stopper.

So by trying to force his way into the No. 1 spot, the risk could be that Leinart slides even lower than he otherwise might have gone.

Stay tuned.

It still does not adress the matter of how Condon came to be hired by Team Leinart. Who gave Leinart the idea that Houston could be "made" to want to trade up? They didn't just come to that view after a night of reflection. All signs point to how Condon handled himself in this affair.

It's still up to the NFLPA.