Unlikely leader: Kurt Warner

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 30, 2000

ATLANTA -- It's the greatest story ever retold.

"It's just an unreal story," Charley Armey, Rams vice president of player personnel, said. "Is this Rocky? Is it Rocky and Rudy all wrapped into one? I mean, this is Rocky. Against all odds."

Naturally, he is talking about Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, Arena League refugee, grocery stock boy, Amsterdam Admiral by way of Northern Iowa and now the Most Valuable Player of the National Football League.

There are 30 teams gnashing their teeth for not being smart enough to discover Warner's talents. But only one team was foolish enough to leave him unprotected in the expansion draft -- the Rams.

The Cleveland Browns weren't biting. They chose Scott Milanovich instead. That's a little like losing the Hope Diamond in the disposal.

Warner is proof that the NFL's great scouting machine needs retooling. According to Armey, the Rams quarterback is not a one-in-a-million success story. He's 1-in-1,900.

"It happens every year," Armey said. "It's nothing unique. You can take it all the way back to Johnny Unitas. How did he slip?

"You start out with about 1,900 players every year. The whole process, by the time I get to draft day, we and every team will have about 150 players on their draft board out of that 1,900. Already, you know the percentages are against you for having them all right. Now, you can only draft seven. There are 250 guys drafted on draft day and you start with 1,900. I know the day I walk out of the draft room, on that board of players who weren't taken, there's somebody over there who can play."

Warner's chance came when starter Trent Green tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in the preseason. Before that, he had taken only 11 snaps in the NFL.

"The real story on Kurt Warner boils down to two people: Kurt Warner's perseverance and believing in himself; and Dick Vermeil's courage to play him," Armey said.

"We all felt he would not lose games for us, he would put us in position to win them. Now, did we know he'd do this? Of course not. But he matches Mike Martz's system almost to a T. Just like Joe Montana. He made it to the third round, but he matched the 49ers system to a T. If everybody knew Joe Montana was going to be Joe Montana, he wouldn't have lasted to the third round. Kurt's perseverance is unreal. He never doubted his ability to play."

Vermeil said players like Warner rarely get enough snaps in practice to determine whether they can become elite players in the league.

"I think players like Kurt Warner appreciate their opportunities and are more likely to take advantage of those opportunities if they are gifted enough to do it," Rams coach Dick Vermeil said. "The trouble for a quarterback is to get the opportunity when everybody already has invested so much money in somebody else that is already supposed to be better. We do it. It's hard for a free agent to beat out a first-round pick because he's not going to get enough snaps on the practice field. One reason we stay so long on the practice field during training camp is to provide everybody with an opportunity to show what they can do and we have a number of free agents that have benefited because of that approach."

Warner's perseverance paid off for the Rams. Although he admits he did not expect to lead the NFL in touchdown passes or win the MVP, he planned on duplicating the success he had at other levels.

"Nobody saw me play," Warner said. "I only played one year in college (Northern Iowa). Then I went to camp with Green Bay (1994), took about 10 snaps in six weeks and never played a preseason game. Then I went to the Arena League (1995-97) and nobody looked at that league. I was only on TV at midnight on Saturday. I finally got a chance to show a little bit over in Europe (1998) and I played pretty well and I opened some eyes here in St. Louis.

"This is how I expect myself to play. If you looked at the things I've done over the past few years, even though it hasn't been the NFL, I played in two championship games the last two seasons I played in Arena football. Everywhere I've been the last few years, I led the leagues in yardage and touchdown passes. I can't say that when I went in I'd throw 41 touchdown passes and those sort of things. But when there's a play to be made, I expect myself to make it."

Warner is considered the NFL's biggest rags-to-riches story since Unitas, the Baltimore Colts quarterback. But Armey said the sport is full of Kurt Warners.

"You think if Denver had known how great (Terrell Davis) is, they would've waited until the sixth round?" Armey said. "The system is elaborate, but sometimes it's its own worst enemy. Because in order to get to the best 150 guys you start packaging them. This guy has to be so tall, this guy has to be so fast. This guy has to catch this many balls. You have to have guidelines. We have to use guidelines as indicators. If a guy runs a 4.35, it only tells us he runs fast. It doesn't tell us that he plays fast.

"We knew it would be a lot more difficult. The only thing Dick Vermeil said, he immediately stepped before the team, and he said, "We have a good young quarterback, Kurt Warner. Let's all get behind him and do whatever we can to support him.' We both thought he could become a real solid quarterback in the league. We had no idea he would do what he's done, of course."

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