Former Rams teammate: Kurt Warner belongs in HoF, was better in Arizona

Add former St. Louis Ram D’Marco Farr to the list of people who support Kurt Warner’s Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy.

Farr, who was a teammate of Warner’s with the Rams, told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday that Warner deserves to have his bust in Canton.

“Yes, Kurt Warner is a Hall of Famer, he belongs in that group with the best quarterbacks that have ever played this game,” Farr said.

However, Farr has a surprising perspective on Warner considering they were on the Rams together. Many think Warner’s best years were in St. Louis, but Farr thinks Warner was at his best in Arizona.

“Just the Arizona Kurt alone should be in the Hall of Fame, but when you bring his career into totality and you look at what he’s done, and in the biggest games possible and what he did in those games and when he had the ball last, yeah, he’s in the Hall of Fame,” Farr said.

To Farr’s credit, Warner played well in Arizona. He led the team to its only Super Bowl appearance in 2008, and even though the Cardinals fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner had an excellent game with for 377 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Warner also guided Arizona to NFC West division championships in 2008 and 2009.

Warner threw for 15,843 yards, 100 touchdowns and completed 65.1 percent of his throws in his five years in Arizona. His best year with the Cardinals was in 2008, when he passed for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns.

But it’s tough to ignore Warner’s time with Farr and the Rams. Starting in 1999, Warner won two MVP awards and appeared in two Super Bowls with the Rams, winning Super Bowl XXXIV. Moreover, many of Warner’s NFL records happened in St. Louis, such as being the fastest quarterback to throw for 10,000 yards, and he still holds the record for the most passing yards in a Super Bowl (414 in Super Bowl XXXIV).

Farr is currently the sideline reporter for the Los Angeles Rams on ESPNLA 710 after spending years of doing Rams games on St. Louis radio. But before Farr ever went on air in St. Louis, some of his best memories in that city were when Warner was still finding his way in the NFL.

“It’s the one where Kurt Warner wasn’t Kurt Warner, he was just our third-string, scout team quarterback,” Farr said. “That guy that we were just talking about, he was the same guy in ’98 when he wasn’t our starter, we just didn’t know it. We’d play basketball together, we’d chase him down in practice just to mess with him, he’d give off his best on scout team just to make us better.”

As much as Farr and his teammates would mess with Warner at practice, Warner returned the favor and messed with them on the basketball court thanks to his shooting skills.

“And I’m telling you, he’s the guy that would frustrate you so much that you’d want to punch him in the face, and he’d never say a word, because he’s nailing these threes in your face and he’s not staring at you but he’d just give you a glance,” Farr said.