Buffalo Bills Reportedly Not Participating in Matt Leinart Sweepstakes

In the swirling 24-7 news cycle that we are all now a part of, the Buffalo Bills found themselves at the center of a trade rumor involving Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, they were reportedly one of three teams along with the Oakland Raiders and New York Giants interested in acquiring the embattled Heisman Trophy winner who has struggled in the NFL.

Wednesday morning, Schefter's report on Twitter was rebuked by Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com after he went directly to the source, which he said was the Bills' front office in upstate New York.

"Buffalobills.com has confirmed that the Bills have not had any discussions with the Cardinals in regards to Matt Leinart and aren't anticipating any in the future. The report is simply not true," Brown wrote.

Schefter fired back today saying two of his sources claim the Bills had ongoing discussions this summer with the Cardinals regarding a possible trade for Leinart. But, he then added that the Bills probably wouldn't go through with the deal because the team is uncomfortable about taking on Leinart's contract, which has a $2.485 million base salary this season that escalates to $7.36 million next season.

Trent Edwards is currently entrenched as Buffalo's starting quarterback, with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brian Brohm behind him on the depth chart. But his durability and consistency have been issues in the past. Still, Leinart is dead set on being a starter somewhere, and was visibly upset by Cardinals' Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt's decision to start Derek Anderson for the second straight week in Thursday night's preseason finale against the Washington Redskins.

When Kurt Warner retired at the end of last season, Leinart was expected to be his successor, having been groomed under Warner for that starting job. Leinart was vocal with the media on Monday and claimed that he had performed better than Anderson throughout training camp and the preseason but that Whsenhunt's issues with him had to do with more than just football. The two met behind closed doors that afternoon and Whisenhunt described is as "a good talk."

Still, there was speculation that the Cardinals had grown tired of dealing with Leinart and were actively shopping him around or thinking about releasing him outright. Behind Leinart on the depth chart are rookies John Skelton and Max Hall, so it stands to reason that Arizona would be looking either at a veteran quarterback in return or a high enough draft pick so that they could make a deal with another team for that quarterback.

Whatever the end result is out in the desert, as far as the Bills are concerned it looks like it no longer involves them.