Kurt Warner Plotted A Return To The NFL Despite Being 46 Years Old

Getty Image

Arena Football League legend Kurt Warner managed to turn his prowess on a 50-yard field into a pretty successful career as an NFL quarterback and has the distinction of being the only person to be inducted into each league’s Hall of Fame based on the four minutes of research I did. Warner retired in 2010 after a 12-year career that included a Super Bowl victory with the Rams, and despite being a certified old person (at least as far as athletes are concerned), it looks like he’s started to second-guess his decision to hang up his cleats.

NBC Sports’ Patrick Daugherty shared a video of the former QB stopping by the broadcast booth during a St. Louis Cardinals game, where he revealed he’s talked to an unnamed NFL coach about making a return to the league at the age of 46.

If putting in headphones and hitting play is too arduous of a task for you, here’s the full quote:

“I was actually ready to, for this coming season, I actually talked to a coach and my wife said, ‘Go for it, I think it would be great. So I actually talked to a coach about possibly doing it if they needed someone, but then they went out and signed somebody. I don’t think they thought I was serious. So I think we’re completely done now.”

Yahoo Sports speculates the coach in question was the Raiders’ Jon Gruden, whose younger brother and current Washington Redskins head coach Jay made also made a name for himself as an AFL QB. The elder Gruden signed journeyman Josh Johnson to round out his team’s depth chart in March, so there might be some merit to that theory.

If he somehow managed to land a starting position, Warner would be the oldest quarterback to ever open a game under center (but he’d be a couple of years short of being the oldest player to appear in a game). If the NFL really wants to boost their ratings, they should force some team to sign him and start him in a game against Tom Brady.

I would watch the shit out of the Old Dude Bowl.