“If you’re willing to put yourself and your dreams on the line, at the very least you’ll discover an inner strength you may not have known existed.”
$5.50 An Hour
After playing college football at Northern Iowa, Kurt Warner spent four years out of the NFL. The Green Bay Packers signed Warner in 1994 but released him before the regular season. After his release from the Packers, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. He often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom.
Arena Football
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League. In 1995, he signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL’s First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after leading his team to back-to-back championship appearances. His performance was enough to earn him a roster spot with the Rams in 1998.
A Cinderella Story
After working as a backup during the 1998 season, the Rams abruptly promoted Warner to starting quarterback in 1999 when Trent Green suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. Warner made the most of the opportunity and began a Cinderella Story for the ages. He threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record only surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. On the season, Warner passed for 4,353 yards and a league-leading 41 TDs, led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory, and earned both NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP honors. Up until the 2022 season, Warner was the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP.
Accolades
Throughout the rest of his career, Warner would win one more MVP and make 2 more Super Bowl appearances, one more with the Rams and one with the Cardinals. His Super Bowl appearance with the Cardinals, the team’s first Super Bowl, made Warner one of only four quarterbacks to start in the Super Bowl with two teams. But his accolades don’t stop there.
After his third Super Bowl appearance, he had all three of the highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl. Additionally, he became the sixth quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. He was also the second-fastest player to throw for 20,000 yards, broke the NFL’s single-game record for completion percentage (92.3%), was the first NFL quarterback to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams, and was the second quarterback to throw 100 touchdowns with two teams. He is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory, and the only player inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
Easily the best underdog story in the NFL’s history, Kurt Warner is the NFL’s greatest undrafted player.