Kurt Warner Hangs Up His Cleats

Kurt Warner leaves the NFL just about at the top of his game but also healthy -- which was very important to the likely future Hall of Famer. (AP Images)

How is that Hollywood – or at least The Family Channel – hasn’t made a movie about Kurt Warner yet? He’s certainly the only human in history to go from grocery store stock boy to two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion.

Well, perhaps now Warner can star in the movie himself – I assure you one is coming at some point – now that the future Hall of Famer has retired from the NFL after another great season with the Arizona Cardinals.

But let’s start at the beginning (not like “he was born in” beginning).

Warner started only one season at Northern Iowa and couldn’t make the Green Bay Packers in 1994 after his senior season, so he ended up stocking shelves at an Iowa Hy-Vee grocery store. However, he got a shot in the now-defunct Arena Football   League in 1995, and he shined for the Iowa Barnstormers from 1995-97. The St. Louis Rams took a shot on him in 1998 but sent him to the now-defunct NFL Europe for a season, where he was arguably the best quarterback. That got him a spot as third-stringer on the Rams for the 1998 NFL season.

Warner got his true shot with the Rams in 1999 when projected starter Trent Green tore his ACL, and Warner never looked back. He was named NFL MVP that season and led St. Louis’ “Greatest Show on Turf” to its only Super Bowl title in an epic win over the Tennessee Titans in which Warner was named Super Bowl XXXIV MVP by throwing for a still-record 414 yards along with two TDs.

He would lead the Rams back to the Super Bowl two seasons later – a loss to the Patriots – and win his second regular-season MVP award. However, injuries hampered Warner the next two seasons with the Rams as he was limited to just nine games, and he signed with the New York Giants for the 2004 season. Warner was OK with New York and led the team to a 5-4 record before being benched in favor of a rookie named Eli Manning.

Since the G-Men had Manning, Warner left and signed with the Cardinals. His first two seasons were up-and-down and Warner began the 2007 season behind Matt Leinart. But that didn’t last long, and Warner showed enough in his 11 starts to get another contract. And that led to last season, when Warner looked almost like he did with his Rams days, throwing for 4,583 yards and 30 TDs during the regular season and leading the Cardinals to within seconds of an unlikely Super Bowl upset over Pittsburgh.

This season Warner had another excellent season – 3,753 yards and 26 TDs – while leading Arizona to another division title and a playoff win over the Packers in which Warner had more TD passes (five) than incompletions. But Warner suffered a vicious hit the following week and struggled in a loss to the Saints. He had always hinted this might be his last season, and that hit probably made it a done deal.

On Friday, he made his retirement official at age 38. For 12 seasons, Warner finished with 2,666 completions in 4,070 attempts — his .655 percentage is one of the best in NFL history — for 208 touchdowns, 32,344 yards, 208 touchdowns and 128 interceptions. His 93.7 passer rating is the third best of all time, and he holds the top three passing yardage games in Super Bowl history. He and Fran Tarkenton are the only two players to throw at least 100 TD passes for two teams, and he’s one of only six players to win two NFL MVP awards – joining Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas and Jim Brown.

Whether he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer is a silly question. Warner was always a first-class guy, and that was evident in his press conference on Friday (there will be no Favre-like flip-flopping here). He is a very religious man who said he looked forward to spending time with his family and that he would definitely be involved in the ministry and “impacting people’s lives” going forward.

The Cardinals are certainly worse off now – Leinart, here’s your final chance – and so is the NFL.

How will Arizona do without Warner next season? Bet on NFL futures at Bodog.