Nobody Has Ever Played the QB Position Better Than Kurt Warner

Legendary St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner retired last week after 12 improbable seasons in the NFL.

Warner, a two-time AP NFL MVP and five-time Pro Bowl selection, walked away from the gridiron, and $11.5 million, while he was still playing at an elite level.

“I’m excited about what’s next,” said Warner, 38, a two-time First-Team All-Pro and the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV. “Before I was always excited about next season.”

With a genuine Cinderella tale like Warner's, there really is no way to guess “what’s next” for him.

Despite the fact that he wasn’t even afforded the opportunity to make his first professional start until he was 28 years of age, Kurt Warner is absolutely one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.

Warner attended, and played football for, the University of Northern Iowa near his hometown of Cedar Rapids.

Needless to say, the Panthers are not exactly a football powerhouse in the Midwest.

Still, Warner rode the pine as a third-string signal-caller until his senior year.

When finally granted his opportunity to perform, Warner excelled and was rightfully named the Gateway Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Predictability, nary an NFL team was interested in selecting Warner with a draft pick out of college.

Instead, Warner signed as an undrafted free agent with the Green Bay Packers in 1994.

The Packers released Warner before the regular season began, and the immensely gifted passer was then relegated to stocking shelves at a local Hy-Vee grocery store for a paltry $5.50 an hour.

With his options dwindling, Warner signed with the Iowa Barnstormers in 1995 to play in the Arena Football League.

As always, once given a chance, Warner dominated the action on the turf.

Ultimately, Warner became a two-time First-Team All-Arena player and he was eventually named the twelfth greatest Arena League player ever.

After his impressive showings with the Barnstormers in 1996 and 1997, Warner inked a deal with the St. Louis Rams and he was sent to Amsterdam to play for the Admirals of NFL Europe.

The lowly Rams wisely decided to begin anew and they cut ragged quarterbacks Tony Banks and Steve Bono after the conclusion of the 1998 season.

Warner was subsequently promoted to backup for the Rams highly-coveted new free agent acquisition, Trent Green.

Fatefully, Green tore his ACL in a preseason game and Warner was promptly announced as the Rams starter.

Warner spearheaded the Rams vaunted “Greatest Show on Turf” and he astoundingly led the perpetually downtrodden franchise to their first and only Super Bowl victory in 2000.

Although he invigorated the franchise and established a number of passing records during his time in St. Louis, Warner was unceremoniously dumped by the Rams in June of 2004.

After an uneventful one-year stint with the New York Giants, Warner moved to the desert to suit-up for the equally woeful Cardinals in 2005.

Like all of his predecessors since 1975, Warner struggled initially as a Cardinal.

However, within a span of three seasons, Warner somehow resurrected the porous Cardinals and managed to advance the team to Super Bowl XLIII.

Warner and the Cardinals were narrowly defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-23 last February.

Still, it is staggering to realize what Warner accomplished playing for the traditionally pathetic Rams and Cardinals.

If either the Rams or Cardinals ever had something that resembled a defense, both of Kurt Warner’s hands would likely be adorned with championship rings.

In the end, Warner captured one championship and he retired with the most career passing yards (1,156) in Super Bowl history.

Naysayers and critics alike will always harp on the notion that Warner strictly succeeded because he was surrounded by such a litany of talented players.

Nevertheless, with the possible exception of Dan Marino, what great quarterback wasn’t surrounded by tremendous teammates on the offensive side of the ball?

Warner threw in excess of 300 yards in an astounding 45.2 percent of the games he participated in and he set the mark for the most contests with a perfect passer rating with three.

As previously noted, Warner did not make his first NFL start until he was 28.

If Warner had been given a genuine chance to perform out of college, he would own virtually every passing record in the NFL.

Even though his growth as a player was temporarily stunted by talentless talent evaluators, Warner is destined to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

When Warner initially emerged as a superstar, Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 1999 cover with the caption, “Who is this guy?”

Kurt Warner is simply a good man who played the quarterback position as well as anyone ever did before him.