From Green Bay to Arizona

Today, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner announced his retirement from the NFL. And the NFL is better for having him among their ranks for a dozen years. But the road to this point was long. Very long.

Warner was an undrafted rookie free agent in camp with the Green Bay Packers. The quarterbacks coach at the time was Steve Mariucci. He saw that Warner had potential, but Mooch also saw the Warner wasn't quite ready for the NFL. That was all Kurt needed to hear. His journey in the world of football was just beginning.

The next stop, and maybe his most famous, was Iowa and the Arena League. For two season, Warner was First-team and led the Barnstormers to the Arena Bowl in both seasons. For only two seasons of work, Warner was named as one of the Arena League's Top 20 of all time, claiming #12 on that list. Oh, and that bit about stocking groceries happened in Iowa, too.

Next stop was actually Chicago. Warner had secured a tryout for the Bears prior to his second AFL season. But it wasn't to be. An injury caused by a spider bite Warner had received while on his honeymoon prevented the tryout from occurring. It was on to St. Louis...sort of.

The Rams were the first NFL team willing to give Warner a real shot. He was allocated to NFL Europe. He led the league in TD and passing yards in his only season for the Amstersam Admirals. After one year in Europe, Warner was summoned back to St. Louis in 1998 as #3 on the Rams QB depth chart.

Two quarterbacks were released following the '98 season (Tony Banks and Steve Bono). St. Louis signed Trent Green to be #1 and Warner was to be #2. Any move up is a good one. But the movement would go even quicker.

In a preseason game, Green suffered a torn ACL and Warner was to be the #1 QB of the Rams. He'd finally made it. He was the guy.

I still hear then Rams head coach Dick Vermeil. "We will rally around Kurt Warner..."

All Warner did in his first real season was lead the Rams to a Super Bowl win and collect a Super Bowl and NFL MVP along the way. He would have another Super Bowl appearance while in St. Louis before heading to the Big Apple.

Although Warner signed a two-year deal, he would only spend one with the Giants. They had this guy named Eli Manning on the roster. Warner was to keep the seat warm until Peyton's little brother was ready. It happened sooner rather than later.

It looked over but Warner, as he always did, landed on his feet and was on his way to Arizona. But in his second season, there was yet another rookie quarterback looking to knock Warner off the #1 spot. Like the situation in New York, it looked like Warner was to serve as a mentor and groomsman. It would take Warner three seasons to totally convince the Cards that he was their guy and Matt Leinart wasn't.

Warner would lead the Cards to their only Super Bowl appearance, and if not for a Ben Roethlisberger pass to Santonio Holmes in the game's last minute, he would have had a second Super Bowl ring.

All of Warner's NFL stops have had one thing in common...he wasn't never meant to be the starter for long. Six years in St. Louis and five in Arizona shows you the grit he's made of.

Here's some things to consider. Warner has been in more Super Bowls (3) than Brett Favre (2), Dan Marino (1) and Peyton Manning (2). All three are considered to be among the best that have ever played the QB position. Wanrer has as many wins as Favre and Manning although Peyton can change that next Sunday. Marino left the game without a ring.

To me, there's is little doubt that Warner will one day grace the halls in Canton. He'll do so with his usual class and humility. That would be the end of his football journey.

A long road from Green Bay to Arizona.

Warner will set out on another trek.

Don't be surprised if he's successful at that, too.