The Final Chapter of the Warner Debacle?

by Andrew Davidson on Mar 18, 2009 5:57 PM PDT Comment 19 comments

FOOCH'S NOTE 5:57PM: Fantastic FanPost, whether you agree with it or not.

I'm sure all of you saw the title of this post, and have long forgotten about the Kurt Warne fiasco we all went through a few weeks ago. There were conspiracies floating around about Warner and his agent trying to drive up the price for Warner's services in Arizona. After reading a small article at PFT, I have solved the Kurt Warner debacle. Enjoy.

The article pronounces that Kurt Warner has had hip surgery, something no one but Warner and the Cardinals knew about.

"The injury was one I sustained and played with last season and although I could have continued to play with it, I felt this was best for short-term success on the field as well as long-term comfort off the field. I am ready to go to work and back so we can build on what we accomplished last season."

This is a prime example of Kurt Warner being guilty of pimping his services, and not actually intending on playing for anyone but Arizona. It's also a prime example of how silly it could make the 49ers look. The team brought Warner in for a FA visit which as a rule, requires the player to take a physical. Would that physical not reveal an injury to Warner's hip? PFT gives props to Arizona:

To their credit, the Cardinals didn’t leak the fact that Warner needed hip surgery to the other teams that were interested in signing him.

Um, all one of them.

To Kurt Warner's credit, he fooled the 49ers doctors because he took a "physical" on his "Free Agent" visit to San Francisco. If the 49ers doctors did perform a physical, is that why there was no "official" offer to Warner? Just like Singletary never "offered" the job to Linehan?

The San Francisco 49ers sent a private jet Monday for the two-time MVP quarterback, who traveled from Phoenix to the 49ers' Silicon Valley training complex. He underwent a physical exam and had a meeting with their top brass.

With this in mind, you can make a case that the 49ers intentions were indeed to jack up Warners price, and make the Cards shell out some dollars. Why didn't the 49ers go a bit deeper, and sting the whole franchise even harder, by proclaiming "Warner has a bum hip, we don't want him. Go back to Arizona."? Probably because the 49ers never actually even administered a phsyical, which is indeed silly.

If the 49ers actually examined Warner, I assume they would've found out about Warner's hip injury. If that were the case, I don't think dollars would've been discussed, and the visit would not have included dinner. Instead, Kurt and Brenda got a free trip to Frisco, and were whined and dined by a division rival. Were Scot McCloughan and Mark Bartelstein making a different deal in exchange for this fiasco while Warner was at Stanford getting his "physical"?

There's no evidence yet, but let's keep an eye on Bartelstein's list of players, and see if the 49ers end up with the "favour" returned. Bartelstein`s firm represents 84 NFL players. The one that jumps out the most at me:

MARVEL SMITH (Pittsburgh Steelers) 3rd highest-paid left tackle without ever playing a down at left tackle - Five-year contract extension worth almost $25,500,000 and a signing bonus of $6,000,000.

Isn`t Mr. Smith coming to San Francisco soon? I know Smith is coming off two consecutive seasons with back injury (2007 required surgery), and it was surprising to not hear Marvel Smith's name more often during the lists of visits OT were making during the Free Agency period. Does something smell funny to anyone else?

I wonder what this guy thinks of the whole ordeal (in particular the limo, cadillac and private jet the Niners used). Does anyone have any thoughts on this crazy notion I've concocted (please tell me I'm not insane)?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.

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Damn

This seems deep and intricate and could very well be the case!

MURS for President!!!!!!!

by jtoj on Mar 18, 2009 6:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

by Ninerfromacrossthepond on Mar 18, 2009 6:27 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Interesting theory...

but highly unlikely. I don’t think the 49ers would spend the time and money to bring in Warner so they could get a ‘deal’ on an OT who is over 30 and injury prone. We’ve already got one of those on our roster. The reason Smith is still on the market with limited interest is because of his age/injury past. With that being said it’s unlikely he’d be getting a big contract anyways, so even if what you’re saying is true, how much of a deal is there to really give. Throw in the fact that we have a ton of cap space and it just doesn’t add up to me.

The more likely scenario is the 49ers were trying to force the already cap pressed Cardinals into upping their offer, so they couldn’t afford one of their other star players this year(Boldin restructure) or next year(Dansby-FA). It never did make sense why we would want to pay a ton of money to and old pass happy quarterback in a run based offense.

by 49er4life on Mar 18, 2009 6:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

So i guess what I'm saying...

is I agree the 49ers had some sort of agenda but I don’t think it involved Marvel Smith

by 49er4life on Mar 18, 2009 6:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm past the Warner saga...

And I’m getting ready for the next 49er FA/Draft drama to begin. Maybe a FO drama to boot.

Hey, at least the 49ers are beating Al Davis to the headlines.

Well, we're waiting....

by drummer on Mar 18, 2009 8:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guess

what? I dont care. lets move on. Its only news if they had signed warner and then found out he needed surgery. When is the draft already? this new filler is killing me

by save10 on Mar 18, 2009 8:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

"whining and dining"

typo or good pun?

by foosball4949 on Mar 18, 2009 9:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes

I would like to know this as well.

MURS for President!!!!!!!

by jtoj on Mar 18, 2009 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I always

prefer to use the term “whine and dine”, as opposed to “wine and dine”, because generally when you are dining a lovely lady, she is whining about her awful day. In this case, it was Warner whining about not get a fair market deal in Zona, and the Niners treated him to a private jet, limo, lunch, a “physical”, cadillac, and dinner.

It was a true “whine and dine”, and I wish the Niners “dined and dashed” and left Warner with the bill.

Hey, maybe that was the wink-nod with Warner. Scot said “Hey Kurt, we are going to make this into an entire gala, as long as you pay us the money for it when Arizona gives you that contract.”

by Andrew Davidson on Mar 19, 2009 3:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rec’d because it tells the cold, harsh truth about women.

JAI HO!

by Rishi on Mar 23, 2009 7:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Flagged because there’s nothing fun about misogyny.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Mar 26, 2009 7:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would have been upset if we signed him

Sign and guy and he needs surgery, that would have been a big no, no.

Physicals’ don’t always reveal injuries, especially if the doctor doesn’t have an indication of injury. If the doctor or team knows a problem exists they test the body part in question with several more exercises, otherwise they might briefly test the body part with a single exercise which makes it much easier for a patient to hide.

I’m not the Cardinals ever knew of Warner’s injury. Warner sure put on an all blitz to get himself signed right way. The Cardinals are so cheap they would have used that injury against him. A press release the day of surgery doesn’t convince me that they knew.

by bignerd on Mar 18, 2009 10:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure

if there’s anything so sinister or even cynical here.

It’s all water under the bridge now. I suspect how hidden or not-hidden Warner’s injury was wasn’t a big deal, and there iisn’t much of chance it would affect him in 2009. That’s just my take. I have no idea what the reality of it was. People are going to read all sorts of things into it. If you don’t like Singletary or McCloughan you’ll presume that this somehow reflects their incompetence.

I still think that Warner would have helped the Niners, and spending just the Yorks’ money instead of trading players and draft choices for the guy in Denver would have been better.

I suspect that there may be a quarterback later in the draft that the Niners pick up, but McC and Sing see Smith as the eventual starter again for the next couple of years. I think with the right players and coaching Smith could very well be better than Cutler in the long run. Again, just my opinion.

Still, I’m rooting that Hill has a nice, long, successful run before Smith redeems himself.

So what’ll it be? A tackle? A pass rusher? Or a wide receiver who drops to #10? Or do they trade down?

by Bob On The Coast on Mar 19, 2009 7:45 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think it could have hurt the Niners – or anyone else – if he’d signed somewhere else. If he has surgery and has to miss any offseason practices or preseason games, it could slow down how quickly he’s able to get acclimated to a new team’s players and playbook. Staying in Arizona gives him a leg up, since he already knows the majority of his teammates, knows the playbook, and all that stuff.

I'm thinking but nothing's happening.

by JRPhillips on Mar 19, 2009 10:44 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

So I’m not sure what the conclusion is to this post. That the 49ers didn’t actually administer a physical? Or just that they were using Warner to get Marvel Smith? I need clarification…

I'm thinking but nothing's happening.

by JRPhillips on Mar 19, 2009 12:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

just having some fun with it

and implying that the Niners attempt at signing Warner weren’t legit, and those who called “shenanigans” orginally, were correct. I just took it a bit deeper, because if a team does a favour for an agent, that agent surely will return the favour one way or another. If comes in the from of a 2 year, $6 million deal* for Marvel Smith, kudos.

- my approximate value of Smith to the team. As in, any more money, and its not a deal, but a risk.

by Andrew Davidson on Mar 19, 2009 3:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Warner Debacle

Lets reveiw the facts,

SF attempted to sign the key player from their division rival/champion, had the coup been successful the 49ers would most likely take the division. Seattle is aged and St. Louis is too young and the Cardinals Offense is to high octane for Leinart to handle at this time.

$30 Million, Warner on the 49er bench would all but assured two Divisional Championships for the Red and Gold, that is a true coup.

The 49ers were successfull in raising the $ amount the Cards were willing to pay, depleting Arizona’s cap room and an additional $10million, or perhaps the services of Aquan Boldin.

-or-

Concider the players the cardinals have being getting from the free agency for $5 Mil. That is two more threats the “Warner Debacle” has prevented. With $5 Mil this year their secondary has aready improved. Had Warner not visited San Francisco, who else would have signed with the Cardinals?

In conclusion, by bringing Warner to San Francisco, the 49ers have to some degree made it difficult for the Cardinals to continue thier rein.

by ACARDSFAN2002 on Mar 23, 2009 11:45 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Please Note

The comment PFT makes about Marvel Smith’s contract. We got a good deal with high reward, low risk. Thank you Priority Sports, for helping negotiate a franchise friendly deal. Especially if it pans out.

by Andrew Davidson on Mar 30, 2009 8:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It sounds like...

… speculation on PFT’s part, to me.

The 49ers haven’t often given out two-year deals where the second year is an option year. I’d imagine the deal is more like Antonio Bryant’s, where a sizeable chunk of guarantees are in the first year (i.e. small signing bonus but slightly big roster bonus for the first year), so that the second year doesn’t hurt the team too much if they cut him. This is not to mention any performance bonuses and such.

by sfgfan on Mar 31, 2009 8:55 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs