QB Kurt Warner was ‘serious’ about an NFL return in 2018
May 8, 2018, 11:00 AM | Updated: 3:47 pm
Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner shows his Football Hall of Fame ring during his ring ceremony at half time of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Kurt Warner’s last appearance in the NFL came on Jan. 3, 2010. As a 38-year-old quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, a hit by the New Orleans Saints’ Bobby McCray took Warner out of the season finale and segued into his retirement.
He thought about a return in the coming years, but an opportunity never arose.
Plus, the timing wasn’t right for his family.
Apparently, those thoughts about making one more run haven’t gone away. During a visit with the St. Louis Cardinals’ broadcast booth on Monday night, Warner admitted he and his wife had serious conversations about him giving the NFL another try — this season.
Kurt Warner talking about how he entertained the idea of trying to play in 2018 pic.twitter.com/HjfzJjE7EF
— Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) May 8, 2018
Warner said Tuesday that he wasn’t joking.
“It was just me throwing it out there to a friend of mine who coaches, and just saying, ‘hey, I’m feeling good, I’m throwing the ball again. I think I can give you one more year if you need one in the process of what you’re doing,” Warner told Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
“I actually talked to my wife and she’s like, ‘it’d be a great story. Let’s do it.’ I think the coach was basically going, ‘I don’t think he’s serious — there’s no way he could be serious.’ It never went any farther than that. But I was serious.”
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The Super Bowl XXXIV MVP, four-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer won a title with the 1999 St. Louis Rams and led the 2001 Rams and 2008 Cardinals to Super Bowl defeats.
A decade after his last Super Bowl appearance, he still feels like he can sling it.
With thoughts of making an improbable return as a 46-year-old, he truly wanted to see if he still had it as a starting quarterback.
“Maybe it would’ve taken it into a backup role if a team brought in a young guy and I played until that guy was ready,” Warner told Doug & Wolf. “Maybe. But that wasn’t the point. I don’t need to come back as a backup. If I was going to try to do it, I was going to try to go somewhere where they needed a guy for a year and they transitioned or just a veteran guy to try to lead an organization from that standpoint.
“It was such a pipe dream. I’m just saying I threw some stuff out there. It wasn’t really — we were never diving into it. They were never really asking me any questions. Like I said, I think they thought it was a joke more than anything,” he added. “It wasn’t idea of just coming back to be a part of something. Just really wanted to see if I could play again because I feel so good at my age.”
