The Arizona Cardinals don’t have a great history with the quarterback position but they did have one of the all-time greats. Quarterback Kurt Warner, who resurrected his career in Arizona and took the team to the Super Bowl and two division titles, is among the top 25 quarterbacks of all time, according to NFL.com’s Elliott Harrison.
Warner comes in at no. 20.
When it comes to rating Warner, most folks can’t get past the mid-career lull. Their argument is, essentially, that he didn’t enjoy enough of a prime. Well, that might be true. But it sure as heck wasn’t all his fault. How about the talent evaluators who missed on him coming out of college? Where’s their culpability? Or the Rams, who benched him in 2003 after he sustained injuries to go with Marc Bulger? Then there were the Giants. They sat Warner in his lone season with the team, despite posting a 5-4 record with him, to play Eli Manning(who went, ahem, 1-6). Let’s not forget about the Cardinals, who were hellbent on turning Matt Leinart into the next Neil Lomax. How’d that work out? Anyway, all Warner did in his limited time as a QB1 was win two league MVPs, a Super Bowl MVP, start three Super Bowls, and retire at the top of his game. Not to mention, there must be some kind of merit scholarship for taking the Cardinals to Super Sunday. I was always most impressed with his ability to hold onto the ball on those seven-step drops, deliver the mail, and take the hit.
There was a fantastic stat. While he was 1-2 in Super Bowls, in the final three minutes of all three games he threw a touchdown pass to either tie the game or take the lead. That is incredible.
He ranks just ahead of Jim Kelly and behind both Ben Roethlisberger and Russell Wilson.
Based on the names ahead of him, it would appear that Warner is right where he should be.
Cardinals fans didn’t get much of Warner, but his run from 2007-2009 was something special. He needed the Cardinals and the Cardinals needed him to change the franchise. As bad as things now look for the Cardinals, imagine never having had that run with Warner. The team would still be a joke.
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