Why Is Kurt Warner Still The Unsung Hero?

Kurt Warner finally gets his big payday.

At two-years and 23 million dollars, this is probably going to be Warner's farewell contract. He says that he's not quite ready to retire, and I don't blame him.

Even at the age of 37, what NFL quarterback would leave this type of situation?

Having two top-flight wide receivers at his behest, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, is more WRs by two than many NFL teams have on their entire roster.

He has the chance to bring the perennial losers of the NFC West—the Arizona Cardinals—back to the spotlight next year, for only the second time in their team history.

This is where I begin. For a while now, I have quietly researched and studied Arizona's star-quarterback, a devout Christian and family man with no character flaws and the ability to make any team that can utilize his considerable skills better.

Even with all of his new-found success, he is still not considered one of the best QB's in NFL history. Why? This question is very puzzling to me, and forced me to take a second-look at a number of other QBs and their teams, both active and in history.

First, let's take a look at some of his statistics. Kurt Warner has advanced to the Super Bowl three times—winning once in 1999 with the St. Louis Rams.

His career statistics include a 65.75 completion percentage, good for second-best in NFL history.

He has thrown for 208 TDs and 127 INT, including the postseason. Most importantly, he is the single QB ever to have thrown for 40 TDs and won the Super Bowl in the same season.

Not even Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Dan Marino have been able to duplicate this feat. This, however, does not by itself determine the greatness of a NFL QB. Statistics only tell half of the story.

No other player, save for Carolina QB Jake Delhomme, has gone through nearly as much as Warner had to become a starting QB in the NFL.

After his college career at Northern Iowa, he got cut from Packer's training camp, became a grocery store attendant, played and starred in the Arena Football League, played and starred in NFL Europe, and finally after five, long years waiting for his chance to start, got named the primary back-up for St. Louis QB, Trent Green.

How many NFL Europe or AFL players do you know that have gone on to become a star at any position in the NFL?

Warner went through both. I can only imagine how much more he could have done if he had played those five years in the NFL.

Finally, I took a look at exactly how much Warner meant to his Super Bowl teams. This takes into account how well he did in the regular and postseason, or rather how badly his team would have done without him.

The offense carried both St. Louis and Arizona to the championship game. This is not to say that the defense did nothing to help, as it certainly did it's part to help Arizona defeat the Carolina Panthers in the '08 divisional playoffs and the Philadelphia Eagles in the '08 NFC championship.

It just didn't carry the team.

Without Kurt Warner, with help from Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona, and Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt in St. Louis, the team would have not even got into the playoffs.

Would Pittsburgh have gotten to the playoffs without Ben Roethlisberger this year? Probably. The No. 1-ranked defense and a good rushing offense carried the team for much of the season.

How about the NY Giants last year? Eli Manning certainly did his part in leading his team to a Super Bowl ring but it was the defense that kept the high-octane New England offense to 14 points.

All of this brings us to the question, why if Kurt Warner has gone from a AFL nobody to becoming a Super Bowl-caliber QB with two separate teams, including a horrible Arizona team that had only won two previous postseason games since 1947, is he not considered one of the top non-game manager QB's of all time?

I don't know. 30 TD's, 14 INT's and three playoff wins with one of the worst franchises in NFL history certainly deserves another look.

-Michael ([e-mail])

[Feel free to comment, for or against Kurt Warner being one of the top NFL QB's of all time -M]