Kurt Warner
Kurt Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, New York Giants, and Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He was originally signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 1994, but was cut before the season began. Following this, he worked the night shift at a Hy-Vee grocery store and concurrently served as an assistant coach for his old college, the University of Northern Iowa, during the day.
Warner still dreamed of playing football and was able to join the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League in 1995 and played there for three seasons, guiding the team to two Arena Bowl appearances—the only two in team history. In 1998, he played a season for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe before making the final cut with the St. Louis Rams. He was a backup that season and in the 1999 preseason, until the starter, Trent Green, got hurt. Warner then came in and played phenomenally, winning the 1999 league MVP and leading the Rams to a 23-16 Super Bowl XXXIV win over the Tennessee Titans, winning game MVP honors in the process. He won another league MVP in 2001 and led the Rams back to the Super Bowl, only to be upset 20-17 by the New England Patriots.
After suffering a hand injury the following year, Warner was sidelined and eventually lost his starting spot. In 2004 he was released and signed with the New York Giants. Warner got off to 5-4 start but lost the starting job to rookie and number one draft pick Eli Manning. Warner played backup for the remainder of the year.
Final destination the Arizona Cardinals
On March 6, 2005 Kurt Warner, an unrestricted free agent, signed a one-year contract worth $4 million with the Arizona Cardinals. For his efficiency during the 2005 season, the Arizona Cardinals rewarded Warner signing him to a three-year, $18 million contract, with performance incentives, that could have been worth between $20 million and $24 million. 2006 started out strong for Warner having earned the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award for week 1, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history. Having a less than stellar weeks 2 through 4, Warner was replaced at quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4, until later in the season when Leinart went down with an injury Warner was again the starting quarterback.
In the 2007 season Matt Lienert was the starting quarterback with Warner his backup. After weeks 3 and 4 Warner relieved Leinart both times, following two consecutive ineffective starts for Leinart. Shortly thereafter Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, only one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner earned a $1 million bonus for the year due to his superb performance.
After coach Ken Whisenhunt gave Warner the possibility of earning the starting quarterback role early when Leinart was again ineffective, Kurt was officially named the starter on August 30, 2008. For the 2018 regular season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. Warner was ranked the top passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed the Chargers Philip Rivers and Jets Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. The Warner-led Cardinals won the 2008 NFC Championship but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII by a score of 27-23. Warner played one more season in 2009, leading the Cardinals to a second consecutive NFC West title, before retiring from football in January, 2010.
Warner is one of only three quarterbacks to accomplish a perfect NFL passer rating three times (the others are Peyton Manning, who actually did it four times if playoffs are counted, and Ben Roethlisberger). Warner holds the record for most passing yards in a Super Bowl (414 yards in Super Bowl XXXIV). In his other two Super Bowl appearances, Warner recorded the 2nd-most and 3rd-most passing yards in Super Bowl history. Warner has a perfect record in NFL home playoff games (7-0), and is similarly unblemished in Conference Championship games (3-0). He has the remarkable distinction of leading his team to the Super Bowl every single time he has started all of his team's games.
Kurt and his wife Brenda, whom he married in 1997, are evangelical and charismatic Christians and have 5 children together, one of whom is autistic. Warner adopted his wife's two children from a previous marriage at the time they were joined.
External links
- Kurt and Brenda Warner: Putting First Things First, 700 Club video interview
