Kurt Warner Officially Retires; Is He A Hall Of Famer?

On Friday afternoon, Kurt Warner put an end to the speculation about his future, and officially announced his retirement from the NFL after 12+ seasons for the Cardinals, Rams, and New York Giants (forgot about that one, didn’t you?). SB Nation’s Arizona Cardinals blog, Revenge of the Birds, offers some thoughts on his career:

We all know his story – Warner started his career bagging groceries, which then turned into a journey through the Arena Football League and NFL Europe, only to wind up with the St. Louis Rams. Trent Green suffers a season ending knee injury early in the year and Kurt Warner takes over. He leads the Rams on a turnaround season, wins the MVP, and oh yeah, the Super Bowl. In 2001 Warner won his second MVP and also returned to the Super Bowl only to fall short.

After injuries and fumble problems, Warner was cut and served a brief stint in New York before being benched to Eli Manning.

In 2005 Warner became a member of the Arizona Cardinals and was primarily signed to compete for a starting job. He beat out Matt Leinart in 2007 and never looked back. Warner turned the Cardinals into one of the top offenses in the league the last three seasons, helped the Cardinals clinch back to back NFC West titles, and also propelled the team to their first Super Bowl appearance in 2008.

He’ll always be remembered for turning around two of the worst franchises in the league and leading them to the glory land. We all owe a great due of respect and thanks to Warner for everything he has done. He’s been a great athlete on the field and a great man outside of football. Now he can take this time to relax, spend more time with his family, and prepare his speech for Canton.

Ahh, yes…. The first question that Warner’s retirement prompts is whether he is, indeed, a Hall-of-Fame quarterback. While the writer above seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion, others have their doubts. But courtesy of SportingNews.com, at least two hall of fame quarterbacks think Warner belongs right next to them in Canton:

Troy Aikman: “I believe a player is a Hall of Fame player if you can’t tell the story of the history of the game without mentioning that player. In my opinion, no account of the NFL can be accurately given without discussing Kurt Warner’s impact on the game.”

Len Dawson: “I think he deserves it. I don’t know if I’ve seen a more accurate passer, and he generally didn’t make too many mistakes. The tag on him was he never got the opportunity. He was playing Arena Football and stuff like that. But once he got the opportunity, he took full advantage of it.”

So does he belong in the Hall of Fame? His story’s certainly compelling enough to merit inclusion in any historical account of pro football, and anyone that’s ever rooted against him in a big game knows the feeling all too well—when he was playing well, he could be downright terrifying for the opposition. Hall of fame or not (and he’ll probably make it), he was always a class act and a great player, and someone that fans will remember for a long, long time.