That was the most gratifying part was all of this stuff that I believed about myself year after year after year, that I wasn't just wasting time deceiving myself, going oh, you you're better than you think you are. That when you are able to have that success, you're like, Okay, all this stuff I believed, all this stuff I've been working for, all this stuff I've been fighting for, you know,
working through some of those tough moments. It was, you know, brought to fruition because what you really believed about yourself was true.
Hi.
I'm Kurt Warner and I went from a grocery store to the Hall of Fame.
Hi everybody, and welcome back to Off the Beat. It's me your host, Brian Baumgartner, with a little bit of a summer cold. You can probably hear it in my voice, but I'm not cold. On today's Get Nailed It Transition, we got a legend on the podcast today. NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is my guest, and we are talking football. Football is back, baby. If you know football, you know Kurt well. He has a Cinderella story. He played in college, only started for one year for the
Northern Iowa Panthers before going to the draft. He wasn't drafted, He wasn't put on any roster really for four years. Instead, he played for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League. He played in Europe for NFL Europe and then finally back for the Rams, where he won a Super Bowl, appeared in three and is now an NFL Hall of Famer. He's now passing the great sport of football along to
new generations. He's a high school coach in Arizona, but he's also on the NFL network every Sunday morning and throughout the week, giving his insight on the game to fans all around the world. I bet he has a few things to teach us too. Let's see, shall we. Here he is Kurt Warner. Bubble and squeak. I love it, Bubble and squeak, Bubble and squeak.
I could get every mole lift over from the nine before.
What's up, Kurt? Hey, Brian? How are you? I'm great? How are you? I'm doing really well?
Gotta say, a lot of fans in the in the household of yours, so they were pumped when they saw this on the calendar.
That I was jumping on with you.
Oh that's just the Warners love you well, that is that's very nice. Unfortunately, I'm dealing with a little bit of a summer cold, so if you hear a little change in my voice. But I'm feeling fit as a fiddle and ready for NFL to start.
Uh right?
Who is who is your team?
Who do you follow? You know, that's a complicated question, Kurt, But I I am a fan of the Green Bay Packers for sure, and I know you spent a little bit of time with them.
A second a second, not long.
A second, but I mean you were there. It's such an incredible time. Holgrom is the coach, Andy Reid is there, John Gruden is the wide receivers coach, got Edgar Bennett. Reggie Whitecci was the quarterback, Mary Ucci was. You were in a room with him and Farv and Brunell and Ty Detmer.
Reggie White was there. Yeah, you know, I mean I'm in Yeah.
I mean for that period of time, did you do you feel like you you learned something from those guys?
Yeah, I mean I think I learned a little bit, but I think it was more about, you know, feeling like you belonged, you know, because a guy that played one year in college, but you, like you said, I'm up against Brett Favre and Mark and Tie, all these really good college and eventually pro quarterbacks, and you know, so you kind of stack yourself up every day. And you know, when I went there, it was like, yeah,
I think I can play. But then when you throw against Brett Favre every day and then you leave, you go, hey, I can do this. You know, I'm talented enough to do this. You know, so it left me with a little more confidence even though I got cut then maybe I had going in interesting.
Well, your confidence is something that I really wanted to focus on today and then of course we'll talk about this year. But in preparing to talk to you today, and I saw a bunch of interviews that you did, and you talked multiple times about the this strong belief and confidence that you had in yourself from an early age and I mean early like seven, seven or eight years old, you felt like like you could do this.
What do you think that was? Was that something in your in your upbringing, was it something in I don't know, your Iowa roots or or something. What do you think it was?
You know, I think it was a couple of things.
I mean, I think first and foremost, I was I was good athletically, and so it was easy for me to recognize that at an early stage, no matter what sport I was playing, like, hey, you know, I'm better than most of the kids. And then I think the second thing that that adds so much to your confidence is how people around you respond when you do something.
So it doesn't really matter what you do. You know, you're performing in front of your family, you know, doing some dance routine, or you're you're out, you know, doing a sport, or you're in a play, whatever that may be. You're in an orchan so you're in a band. How people respond to you, I think does a lot for
your confidence. And so the one thing that I realized very early on was I got a lot of people that responded to how I played athletically, So feeling like I was good anyways and then getting that response from people, I think those two things together made me very very confident whenever I stepped on a field of any sort.
And you know, it's funny. I could share a story about school, so like I've got one brother, and my brother was you know, quote unquote the smart one, right, he was the one that did well in school, and he's the one that got the accolades for being smart in school. And so I was the athletic one, and nobody had ever really told me that I could be the smart one too, and so I gravitated to sports.
And I do remember, like it was in eighth grade and I had a teacher, Missus Wagner, that actually told me, hey, you can be the smart one as well. But it never really crossed my mind because that was my brother's thing.
This was my thing.
Didn't really get the accolades for that or the attention for that, but it was, you know, so amazing. When she told me that that, I started to look at myself a little differently. And so I think, whether it was sports or anything else in life, so much of that confidence comes from what those people around you tell you about whatever it is that you're doing at a particular time.
Was it always football for you?
It wasn't always football. Actually basketball was my first love. Basketball was much more fun to practice.
You know, football is a tough thing to practice because you need more guys and you know, as a quarterback, it's tiring. To just drop back over and over again, especially when you don't get a chance to compete. In basketball, you can get one other guy and compete. And so basketball was my first love. I played baseball, I played football, but football was kind of right behind that, you know.
Ironically enough, I was a wide receiver until I went to high school, and so more athletic than I would be later in life, and really felt like that was my calling. So when I got changed to quarterback, it wasn't quite my thing early on, and so I think
that's why basketball had kind of taken the forefront. But eventually you realize that you're six ' two, you can't jump very well, you're not the most athletic, probably a better chance playing quarterback than playing shooting guard, you know, in college or the NBA, and so naturally life took me in that direction.
Well listen, I mean, you're setting up my questions perfectly here talking about practice not being fun. I'm sure that this would be canceled now I read. I can't believe this. Yeah, that there was a drill that you had called kill Kurt in football practice.
Yeah, So you know, so, as I mentioned, I started as a wide receiver. So when they moved me to quarterback as a freshman in high school. Yeah, I didn't want to play quarterback, but my natural instinct was to avoid being hit, Like nobody wants to stand back there and just wait for people to hit them and then
throw the ball to somebody else to score. So my natural inkling, you know, having been you know, on the outside with the ball in my hands and trying to make people miss, was I just would look around and go, okay, where's the pass rush coming from. Okay, just take off and run. And the coach was like, no, no, that's that's not your job anymore. You got to stand in there and you throw us to throw it to the
other guys. And so, you know, that was kind of the nature of how I started playing quarterback, was I just wanted to get outside and run and make plays and be athletic. And so my coach said, all right, we're going to create this drill, and you're right. They called it the kilk Kirk drill. So it was the drill that everybody volunteered to play. All my buddies were like, oh, I'll play defense, you know, even if I don't normally. If I get a chance to hit Kirk, because I
was just a sitting duck. It was you could drop back in the pocket and you could negotiate the rush in the pocket, but you could not leave the pocket. So it was either negotiate the rush, get hit, or somehow deliver the ball down the field. And so I hated the drill, didn't want to do the drill. We did it over and over it again. But it's ironic that when I started playing, it was my greatest weakness. My greatest weakness was standing in and delivering and keeping
my eyes down the field. And it's ironic that, you know, if you ask people that played with me or watched me play throughout my NFL career, they may say that my greatest strength became my ability to be oblivious to the rush, to stand in the pocket, to wait till the last second, and deliver down the field. And so that drill that I hated and didn't want any part of would ultimately become something that would define who I was as a football player throughout the rest of my
life and through my Hall of Fame career. And so I'm grateful that I learned that skill early on. But I think you're one hundred percent right, bright. I don't think they would allow that now, you know, it would not allow one player to be out there just getting to hit over and over and over again. So luckily I didn't get hurt. Luckily it taught me some things that would be very useful for me.
Well, it's very interesting that you say that too, because I think, you know, I think about you, I think about Aaron Rodgers, I think about Russell Wilson, and it feels like, well, and I guess this is a question too, the ability to feel the pressure. I mean you people talk about that all the time, right, like, feel the pressure, but you've got a helmet on. You can't see behind you or to the left or to the right of you at times, right like, so, do you it feels
like it's an it's sort of an innate instinct. Do you do you feel like it's taught? Like, do you feel like you learned that? You know?
I think that's one of those hard things to know for sure. You know, there's certain things that we have that you go, Okay, is that more innate or was it a combination of being anate and also learning? And so when I would work out in the off season, one of the things that I would do more often than anything else is I would play other sports, and I would play other sports because I always felt like
it could teach me kind of spatial awareness. That's right, thing I'm looking here, but I can feel where bodies are in different places.
Basketball was a great way to do this.
You know, keep your eye on this guy, but you're you're feeling somebody coming with a pick, and you're feeling bodies around you.
And and I think football is.
Very similar is that you have that singular focus of hey, I got to read the defense.
My eyes have to be down the field, but having.
That spatial awareness to be able to you know, as we say, feel the pressure, kind of feel bodies you know that are around you, and then to be able to manipulate that or reset your feed or escape the pocket. I think it is, you know, definitely something that you know through all of that stuff that I learned to some degree. Maybe there was some innate parts of it. But it's funny that every year when the season was over and I would come into the next year, that
was the one thing that I always worried about. I would all always worry, like, am I going to be able to feel the pressure this year like I did last year, because it it isn't something you can really practice. It isn't something that you work on in the off season, and so you always wonder, Okay, am I going to lose that skill because it's so important to be able to drop back and all of a sudden just feel
that defensive end coming from behind you. Okay, I got to slide up in the pocket, right, you know, I got to slide to the right. But you're one hundred percent right. Some people seem to really have that sixth sense of Okay, here it comes. I'm just going to slide and you're like, how in the world could they even have seen that? And then other guys seem much more oblivious to it. So I think it's a great
question on is it something that was learned. Is it something that through those things that I was doing that it helped me to learn that spatial awareness and that feel or was it just something that some athletes or some individuals have that others don't.
Well, you know, as you're talking, it occurs to me that maybe I should have been a quarterback, Kurt, because now when I walk into a restaurant, I can i can feel the pressure. You can feel the eyes, can't You can see that. I can feel that there might be a bogey coming in from the right. That might be an uncomfortable situation. So let me pivot, turn, twist, move to the left. Maybe I haven't.
Yeah, well I think that can be a thing because my wife has that too. Like we walk in and it's funny because I'm oblivious to it now and my wife's like, oh man, there's a camera.
Over on the right.
Oh this person, you know, like she sees everything. So yeah, I mean, and I don't know if she had that before, but she's learned that trade for sure.
So I think mine's learned too. By the way, Yeah, growing up in Iowa, the Hawkeyes are the thing. You had some success there your senior year, you play in the Shrine Bowl, you throw the touchdown pass that wins the game. Did you feel like you had a shot there to get a scholarship at Iowa?
I know you went, Yeah, that that was my hope, you know, being raised in Iowa, you know at that time, the Hawks were, like you said, the thing. They were the team and they were thirty minutes away from me. So I grew up wanting to be a Hawk guy without a doubt.
In Iowa.
You know, I was one of, you know, the top quarterbacks in the state. You know, Paul Burmeister would be the one. He became a friend, he became a colleague at the NFL Network. So we have fun to this day, me telling him that he stole my my my scholarship. There they and they made the wrong decision, and we have a lot of fun with it.
But when we were kind of yeah, we.
Were kind of the two best quarterbacks in Iowa. Yeah, Paul was actually from Iowa City, so he was right down the street from the University of Iowa. But I did that senior year kind of feeling like, okay, I got a shot here, Like it's gonna probably between be between one of us if they choose a quarterback from Iowa, and I felt like, you know, I had just got a shot as Paul. But you know, unfortunately they went the other direction and Iowa wasn't wasn't the only one that that.
That didn't choose me.
I didn't get many opportus co unities to play beyond high school, but was fortunate that you know, smaller school in Iowa, University of Northern Iowa gave me a shot and you know, and was eventually able to play there.
Yeah, and you bring that up, so you've got somebody starting ahead of you for their first three years. Did you ever consider trying to move? I did, you know, it's a different age now, right course. I mean if I was in this era, I probably would have transferred and gone somewhere else just because of how easy it was.
But I did contemplate.
I actually contemplated either quitting football, you know, completely, because like if I can't if I can't even get on the field here at a smaller school, you know, what are my chances of making the dream and playing in
the NFL. And then you know, I thought about, hey, I just want to play, so sitting here on the bench or going somewhere else, even if it's a smaller school, just so I can play football, because this may be it, you know, these last few years, maybe the last time I played football, and I don't want this to be the experience or I don't want to be on the bench.
And it was iron again, I share a story all the time that when I was sitting on the bench, I really felt like you know, and may have been naive, but really felt like I was the more talented guy. And I understood the guy in front of me was a year older, he had had success, he was a good leader. We won game, so I understood why he
was slated in that spot. But I felt like I was the more talented guy, like we had a better chance to have this upside if I was playing, and I couldn't figure out, you know, what I was missing. You know, when I would get into games, or more importantly, like in the big scrimmages, the spring games and stuff, I would always shine and outperform him. So I kind of thought, well that should lead to an opportunity to
really compete. But you know, I had an older friend on the team and he had a good relationship with the coaches. So I asked if he would go and ask the coaches on my behalf, like what am I missing?
Because I couldn't see it.
I didn't know.
I thought I was as good and could throw the football and played well in those big moments that that I had earned that, you know, at least an opportunity to compete. And so he went up and asked him, and I'll never forget the conversation when he came back down. I was the only one in the locker room kind of waiting for him to come back down, and he came in, he goes all right. The coaches told me the reason that you're not starting is because you're not
very good in practice, you know. And I remember thinking, you know, kind of like Alan Iverson, you know, in his little rant like practice, like we're talking about practice, you know, not the big games, not the big moments, not when the life. We're talking about practice. And I left kind of angry and disappointed, like that's just an ex like not very good in practice, Like what are we really talking about, because it's not really about practice.
But the more I contemplated that, the more I got to thinking, Man, when you play football, like you play in high school, we play nine games a year in high school, you know, in college you play twelve.
In the NFL you play sixteen.
So when you really think about it, the majority of your life is spent in practice. And so being able to, you know, let people know what to expect from you, you know, what kind of leader you're going to be, who you're gonna be every how are you going to show up for practice every single day? That happens in practice.
And so what they were really saying was you're not consistent enough every single day for us to know what we're gonna get when the lights come on, Like, yeah, you've shown us some good moments, but we need to see it every day. We need to know what we're going to get. If we're gonna put the ball in your hands because the guy in front of you, we know what we're going to get may not be as talented, he may not have as many wow moments, but we know exactly what we're going to get and.
We can win with that.
And so it was one of the most valuable lessons I learned you when I was going through that, you know, when I wanted to quit or I wanted to transfer, and I.
Learned that, like how are you gonna show up every day?
You know?
And Brian, I tell people all the time. And I've been with my wife for thirty years, we've been married for twenty six years, and you know, I remember when I got married, I thought, Okay, get the big moments right, yeah, like don't forget the anniversaries, good presence on your on her birthday, Like you do those things right, and you got this husband thing, you know, cleaned up. And what I've learned over those thirty years is that my wife wants to know how I practice. She wants to know
how I show up every single day. And it really holds true everywhere. I've got seven kids and kind of thought the same thing. Father, daughter, dances, the big lectures, get those things right. And my kids just want to know if I'm going to love them every day, you know, whether they make a mistake or they do something great. They just want to know who I'm going to be and you know how I'm going to love them on
a daily basis. So it was a valuable lesson that I learned at one of the most down times in my life that would help to shape how I live life, how I prepared, you know, moving forward, and I think ultimately would have a huge impact on what I was able to do on the football field.
Yeah, that's cool, and that's very true in relationships and in life. You do get an opportunity to start. You have a big final season there at Northern Iowa Gateway Conference's offensive place the year, first team All Conference, a ton of touchdowns, a ton of yards. You go seventeen and four did you think you were going to get a chance.
I did, and and I kind of just hoped it would be a chance. I think we all, you know,
when you've got the dream. Like even after that one year, I watched the draft from start to finish that next year, and even though I know I only played one year in college at a small school, I thought I could have been picked number one overall, Like right, I listened for every pick like maybe, like maybe something, you know, And I watched through the entire draft, and obviously my name was never picked, But but I believe that it
could have been in any of those situations. Because even now, as I look back over my career, you talked about confidence early on, and a lot of people kind of sit back and go, Okay, how in the world were you so confident and you had such a belief when you sat on the bench for four years, or you know, you had the grocery store stand or your arena football like when it didn't really work out. Why how did you have so much confidence? And you know, I tell
people that they always looked at the wrong things. You know, most people look at your journey and they look at the down moments and they try to define you by those. For me, I looked at the moments when I had a ball in my hands. I looked at the one moment when, you know, all through high school, I looked at the moment when I was you know, on the field in college, and it was like every time I played,
I was successful. And so I just believe that give ball in my hands, and I'm going to be successful, doesn't matter what level, doesn't matter where. And kind of the hope was that somebody else saw that as well and would give me an opportunity to play. But I felt like I did enough that senior year to at least warrant an opportunity to get into a training camp
and compete for a shot. And you know, fortunately for me, there was a number of teams that were interested and then ultimately I would I would sign with the Packers and get my first shot there.
Yeah.
You know, when I talked to a lot of my guests about, you know, you have something as a kid that you do, which I don't know if this is the right word or not, but I call it a hobby. Right, Like, at a certain point, I played sports, I was doing theater, but I was just doing I was a kid, this was up my hobby. I wasn't. There was never a thought for me that like, oh, this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. Was that always there for you or was there a moment
where you were like, oh, no, this is it. Yeah.
I mean I don't remember a moment, because I think it happened much earlier for me. Okay, because of the stuff I talked about earlier, I gravitated to sports. I just I loved sports, you know, I enjoyed it. When I woke up in the morning. It was what I wanted to do. It was like do I have a game today? It was what I woke up thinking about.
And so from that very early stage when that became who I was, it wasn't just like, oh, you got practice today, Okay, three o'clock, be ready for Like, I was playing all day.
I couldn't wait for practice to show up. So, as long as I.
Can remember, that was kind of the way that I pursued it. And although it may not have been, you know, I want to play in the pros right off the bat, I definitely knew that I wanted to play in college, you know, and I would watch every game of the Awchive. Whatever they were doing, football, basketball, whatever it was. I knew all the players, and so I think that's where it really started. More than it was, hey have a career,
you know, playing super Bowls and do that. It was I am going to play and I'm going to play in college. I'm going to get a scholarship and I'm going to play in college was really where it started. I can't think of a time going back to my childhood where I didn't think that way or didn't believe that was going to be my career path.
You know, you talked earlier about people defining people by their failures. I think that's true. I also think what is America likes a comeback story? I mean, you were stocking shells at the High V grocery store there at Cedar Falls when the Arena Football League came calling to you. The Arena Football League, for those of you who don't know, it's a very different game. It's eight on eight fifty yards. It's all smaller, there's walls, there's no out of bounds.
My question is when you had the opportunity there, did you see it as a stepping point to the NFL. Because it's so different, or was it just lets get let's go throw the ball.
Eventually I would have both emotions right that.
I was called by the Arena League a number of times before I ended up signing with IOWA, and my initial thoughts were exactly what you were saying, is, Oh, you know, I'm so much better than arena football. You know, I don't want to reserve myself to this and get kind of lost in arena football and then never get
my opportunity. But then on the flip side, Brian, I'm working for five fifty an hour stocking shelves at night in a grocery store, and at some point you're like, but a thousand dollars a week is way better than this, And I'm playing football, and I'm at least pursuing or have a chance to hone my skills, and at least him somewhere, like nobody walks into Aisle seven and says, okay,
let's give this guy a shot. You know, at least in arena football, maybe the games were on at like three or four in the morning, but maybe somebody's watching TV at three in the morning and go, hey, this guy's pretty good. So at least you think maybe there's you know, something out there for me. But worst case scenario, I have a chance to take care of my family. I have a chance to make a little bit of money.
And at that time, the Arena League was going pretty good, and so you know, you even say, man, even if I play ten years in arena football, you know, it's probably a pretty good situation compared to getting a job right out of college and trying to work my way up. And so, you know, I had both sides of the emotions, but eventually it was like, man, yeah, I just I
just want to play football again. In my Hall of Fame speech, I used a line that sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do while you're waiting to do what you were born to do. Right we all have that supermarket moment where it's like, Okay, this is where I'm at right now, this is what I gotta do right now, but I know this isn't where I'm going to end up. And so that's kind of what I felt.
The beautiful thing about arena football was, you know, we had all these guys that were playing arena football that we're probably never going to sniff the NFL. They were simply playing because they loved the game. They wanted to play as long as they could. They enjoyed every moment of being out there. And so when I was going through the pursuit of getting to the NFL with sitting on the bench or in the grocery store whatever, you know,
sometimes you get so focused on success success. I gotta get you, I gotta do this, and it's and it's all about, you know, do I make it and do I prove people wrong or prove myself whatever. And then when I went and played arena football, all that kind of disappeared, and I remembered again why I started the pursuit of football is that I loved playing the game and I loved being around people that loved playing the game.
It was not about anything else but get a ball in my hands, and let's go out and compete, and let's go do what we've always loved to do. And so it brought back that love for the game again, and I think it reshaped my mindset, which would be
a great thing. I didn't know I was going to get an opportunity when I was playing, but would become a great thing when I got my opportunity because I saw life, and I saw the sport, and I saw my pursuit of my dreams and goals completely differently than what that path that I was on and what I had to accomplish and what were the most important things. I think I got lost and caught up in just a success part of it instead of remembering, Hey, you're doing this because you love it.
I mean, that's what this is all about. You were born to do this because.
When you have a ball in your hands, and I'm sure when you're on stage, you just feel alive. You just feel like there's just something in me that brings me to a different place when I'm there, and Arena football reminded me of that, and I think that would be a catapult to my mindset moving forward.
You have tons of success there. You go to two Arena Bulls first team ninety six and ninety seven. You leave and go to NFL Europe and ninety eight. Is that or do you consider that at the time that's moving up because now there's NFL in the title of the league. How was that experience?
It was twofold.
The first part of it was, you know, I'd been called by this coach of the European League a couple times, and I had told him that I would love to go and play for him if he could get me signed with an NFL team.
Like, what I didn't want to do is give up what.
I had in Arena League go play in Europe without any opportunity to get back into the league. So that was the first parameter, and so ultimately they would help me get signed by the Rams, and so I knew a I was going to get a tryout with the
Rams after that was over. And then the second thing is I kind of knew that, you know, Arena League, as you mentioned, is so different than the NFL, that if I was ever going to play in the NFL, that I would probably have to go to Europe and get back on the big field and show people that I could do what needed to be done on the big field. But it was really because the Rams had signed me that I was willing to kind of leave the Arena League and go, Okay, this is going to
be my shot. Like I know I'm going to be in training camp. I don't know what this opportunity is going to look like, but I really that's all I was thinking about when I was playing Arena League for three years. Was I just want another opportunity. I'm a better player now, I'm in a better place. If I get a legitimate opportunity, I really believe I could make it.
So that's all I was looking for. And so once I got that opportunity, I was willing and ready to go back on the big field and show people that I could do whatever it took to make the throws or play the game.
You know, at that level, you get a chance with the rams you make the roster in ninety eight, Did you feel like you belonged? I did? Yeah, you feel like they thought you belonged. Did you feel the support?
You know, it was up and down.
There were were moments where you go out there and you make a throw and you'd like, yep, yeah, yep, yeah I can do this. You know, you compete against other guys, you show up every day where you really feel like you belong and then there's other moments where you know you're the arena guy and you're the guy that hasn't ever played on this level.
And so they unprotected from the draft.
Right they would, you know, they would kind of push your buttons a little bit to to really see what you were made of. And so there were those moments where you know, you kind of questioned, like, Okay, are they doing this to push me or to make me better? Do they really believe that I'm not good enough that I haven't shown them? But no, I was very confident when I got there, and specifically, you know that going into my second year, which would ultimately become the year
that I started. Yeah, you know, the first year, I felt confident, but it was a little different because of where I was competing and I wasn't getting a lot of reps, so it was a little bit harder. When I came back the second year. You know, we had new offense coordinator and new offense, but the offense just really fit how I saw the game. And so when we went into that second year, I was so confident, like, I am definitely good enough. This is an offense that fits what I do, so I think I can excel
in this offense. And so I walked way more confidently my second year than I did my first year. Now, let me let me just go back because I actually played in the very last game of.
My rookie season ninety eight.
Okay, in ninety eight, I got into one game against San Francisco late in the game, but I got to throw like eleven passes. And it's amazing how in mop up time, when a game doesn't mean anything, the kind of confidence that it can give you, like being out there and seeing the field and making the reads and making a few throws along like that kind of settles you into go, Okay, now I've played at this level.
And I can do this.
So those eleven passes at the end of ninety eight would be I think what really catapulted me into ninety nine with that level of confidence and belief that I could play. Had I not played at all in ninety eight, I don't know. I don't know if I have quite the same confidence going into ninety nine when I would
become the starter as I had. And so that that last little bit to me just kind of got my feet wet and just kind of said, in the back of your mind, okay, like the angel and the devil, you know, and the Angel lots tell me you got this, You're good enough, and then the Devil's going, now you've never played it level, you can't. And so that you know, Levin passes that whatever quarter that I played was enough to quiet the devil and quiet all those questions and say, okay,
you you got this, you can do this. You you know you're comfortable. Now it's you know, project yourself forward and see if you can get an opportunity to play well.
It occurred to me when I was sort of looking at what happened there. Steve Bono leaves in free agency, Tony Banks is traded, and you're backing up Trent Green. I mean, well, what that tells me is, now Trent gets hurt in preseason, you end up starting. But it feels to me like, at least looking on paper at what was happening, that they trusted you to be the number two guy, because otherwise it feels like those they would not have allowed those other moves to happen.
Yeah, you know, and I don't know if it was full confidence that I could be a starter, right, but I do believe they had seen something to go, all right, this guy has a chance. They weren't going to let those guys go and make me the starter like they hadn't seen that. But you know, all year long, the year before, I would become the Scout Team Player of the Year. So for obviously those that are listening. I was going up against our number one defense every day.
I was running the opponent's offense every day, and I was a Scout Team Player of the Year because you know, I had a lot of success against our number one defense. You know, our defense that was really good and I had a lot of success against them, and so a that would build my confidence. But you know, there's really nothing better from a training ground for a young quarterback than to go against the best defense you have every
single day. And you know, the coaches saw that, and and seeing that, I think that gave them confidence as well.
Like, Okay, we've seen him for a year.
You know, we've watched him practice every day, We've seen him have success. Not ready to hand the keys to the car over to him because we haven't seen him in game moments, we haven't seen him under pressure, but we've seen enough to say we think he can take the step from three to two and now we just need to go out and get us alidified starter. And now we feel pretty good about where our quarterback.
Room is, you know.
So yeah, I think there was a level of confidence there, maybe not ultimate confidence, but a level of confidence there that they had seen enough to feel like they could make those other moves and elevate me to kind of a backup role.
Well, soon enough, they would have plenty of confidence. I mean, Kurt, you've talked about it forever. You're in the Hall of Fame in large part because of it. But just to remind people or let people know what Kurt did, he sets an NFL record, throws three touchdown passes in his first three games. Then he opens up a can of whoop ass on the Niners, who the Rams hadn't beaten in This might be wrong, but I think forty seven years.
I don't think it was forty seven years.
It was a low.
It's a long time, but we had lost to them seventeen straight times.
Yeah. So however many years at forty three years in a row. Yeah, And he throws five tvts in his fourth game, they win forty two to twenty. He goes on, beats the Vikings in the playoffs, beats the Buccaneers in a good NFC Championship game, and ultimately wins the Super Bowl against the Titans in what many considered to be well the second greatest ending in Super Bowl history all of this time, which to me is so much more interesting. Leading up to that moment has prepared you for this.
You had the confidence to do it. But how gratifying is it for you after all of those years, and after all of that time, and all of those different leagues, with all of those different rules, to be given an opportunity and to excel with a great team, no doubt, so quickly. I mean it was.
I mean, it's extremely gratifying, you know. And it's funny because I've never been a guy that plays with a chip on my shoulder or was mad at people because they didn't believe in me. You know that the pundits when you became the starter and people are like, oh my gosh, this team's got no chance with this guy. Like, I didn't get mad at those people. I understood why they questioned it. I understood why they weren't sure if I was any good or they might think that I
wasn't any good because of my journey. What was most gratifying was being able to live up to your own belief in what.
You were capable of.
Like for years, I truly believed that I was good enough. You know, my wife not a big football fan, but she would always say, like in the early stage, just when and when we met, I would be like, well, I'm going to play in the NFL, and you know, she would always joke, well, I'm going to be a model.
Like just saying it doesn't make it true. Like, you know, like I don't know.
If you're good enough.
All I can tell you is that obviously nobody else thinks you're good enough, and so you know, in your mind, you're like, but I am. Like she would ask me that, like are you good enough? And I'd be like, yeah, I'm good enough. I don't know if she fully believed it or not, but that was the most gratifying part was all of this stuff that I believed about myself year after year after year, that I wasn't just wasting time deceiving myself, going oh, you're you're better than.
You think you are.
That when you are able to have that success, you're like, Okay, all this stuff I believed, all this stuff I've been working for, all this stuff I've been fighting.
For, you know, working through some of those tough moments.
It was, you know, brought to fruition because what you really believed about yourself was true. And so that was the best part of that season for me. I worry about any of that other stuff. I mean, obviously it was great to win and win a super Bowl and those things that you dream of, but from a gratification standpoint, it was like, Okay, you always believe this and you were right, you know, like it wasn't this ten year path of just deceiving yourself thinking oh, you're good enough
when you really aren't good enough. Because I always thought, Brian, that would be the hardest part, is right, we all see ourselves as being better, oh than we are, right, you know, does there come a point where you have to realize maybe I'm not good enough, Like maybe the reason I'm not getting an opportunity is because of me,
not because of everybody else. And so that was the sweetest part for me, was like, oh my gosh, it was true, Like all this stuff that I truly believed about myself that was in there, and I was seeing this correctly, and I stuck with it to be able to see it, you know, come to pass.
But you didn't use it to motivate you. You said you didn't have a chip on your shoulder, but you didn't you.
I really didn't, because because again I understood, Like, and I'll even say this, like I was not nearly the same player coming out of college that I was when I got with the Rams in you know, ninety eight ninety Like, I was a completely different player.
You know what we mentioned.
I played one year in college, and so I didn't get the opportunity to do all of this stuff and play in all these games and be in all these moments. So you know, when I went to Green Bay, obviously nobody wants to get cut. But I got cut in Green Bay. And I make this joke all the time. So Brett Farv was a starter in Green Bay in nineteen ninety four. Okay, so that's when I was there, and I got cut. I retired in two thousand and nine.
Brett Farr did not miss a start in the National Football League from nineteen ninety four to two thousand and nine. He didn't miss a single start in that entire time. And so had I made it with the Packer, I'd have never seen the light of day.
Anyways.
I'd have been a backup my entire life, unless, of course, I was traded somewhere and blah blah blah. Like a couple quarterbacks were, but I went and played arena football, and I played more football and was in more moments and had more pressure because in arena football it's all about throwing, it's all about the quarterback, it's about score and seventy points all that stuff.
So I faced more.
You know, live snaps in that three years and then you know, the season over in Europe than any backup quarterback in the history of the world got to experience. So here I am. Yeah, it's a lower level, but I'm playing and I'm getting better and I'm growing as a player, and so all of this stuff that I can look at and have a chip on my shoulder and be mad that I had to play arena football, like, I looked at it and said, you know what, this was the greatest thing for me over that period of time.
So when I came back to the league, it was like, man, I'm ready, I have played. I have belief, I'm confident. You know, as you said, I played in some championships that was player, you know that the top quarterback. Like all this stuff that I didn't really have coming out of college, I had this now, and so you know,
I didn't hold any animosity. You have to be able to step back and look at other people's perspective, and you know, if they're looking at me going okay, one year in college, small school, working in a grocery store, playing like I think I would be like most of them, going like, I don't know if this guy could play like. You know, if it took the guy this long and he had to do all of that, chances are he's
probably not great. So I understood that. So I wasn't mad at anybody, and I wasn't trying to prove them wrong. I was more interested in proving myself right, proving that what I always believed in, what I always chased after, and the reason that I kept this thing going was because I truly was good enough.
To play at that level.
And that's what motivated me more than any of that other stuff that people had to say.
You go back to the super Bowl a couple of years later with the Rams, Now, do you ever think if you'd won that game, we maybe never would hear about Tom Brady again? Do you ever think about that? Do you ever think about you birthed by not winning, you birthed the legend that is Tom Brady? Because maybe who knows Mabby Belichick tells him to sit down. Yeah, you never know.
I mean, you know, it's hard for me to believe that we would not have heard about Tom Brady, that he not won that game. But you do think about history. You know, had we won that game and won two Super Bowls in three years, does that keep me in Saint Louis? Do I have you know, another ten twelve years in Saint Louis where maybe we become the Patriots of that time period? So you know, I think about
my history and what that meant for me. And then yeah, of course, you know, we kind of ushered in that dynasty, and we ushered in kind of that mentality of what the Patriots were and how they played. And of course Tom Brady, you know, we gave him number one. You know, it started everything and started building that confidence to be
able to become the greatest to ever play. So yes, I definitely contemplate history when I think back to that game, you know, and missed opportunities on our part, while at the same time opportunities seized by by the Patriots, and and what that would you know, ultimately lead for that organization And of course we're talking.
But for your story. I mean, I'm sure there's a part of you that, like I think, every athlete hopes for the ten to twenty year career at the same organization, and a lot of times it doesn't work out that way. It didn't work out that way for you. You go to the Giants for a little bit, then you go to the Cardinals. But like I said before, everybody likes the comeback story, and man, you had one. There such a fun teams to watch, and I gotta share something
with you personally. I had the opportunity to share this in person with Santonio Holmes just a few months ago. But your Super Bowl with the Cardinals in Tampa against Pittsburgh, where unfortunately you lost, that was my first Super Bowl. I was there, okay for the first time, and the reason that I was there was I would say one of the most sort of significant personally things in my career, which was The Office. We were the show that premiered
after the Super Bowl that year. NBC was airing the game and The Office was on after, so I had an opportunity to come and to watch that game. I've been lucky enough to go to many since then, but that was my first and yeah, I'll never forget it, and I just I've it's the only time I've sort of felt a part of that big event, and so I wanted to share that.
You're right, I was busy and I did not know that you were busy. But that's cool, that's cool.
Yeah, I do want to talk a little bit before we talk about this year about your your next career with NFL Network. Obviously you love it. You can tell that you love it by watching you. Was this something that you wanted to do? Did they come to you or was this a part of you just wanting to stay in the game once you were retired.
I think it was both.
I think that the crazy thing about sports and professional sports is that it's a finite career that you don't get to play forever. And so, you know, when you're a professional ath lead, you don't really think about the next steps, or at least I didn't, Like I was so focused on being successful and getting there and having success that I never really considered, oh, shoot, you know, half your life is going to be lived after this career.
What the heck are you going to do?
And so, you know, as it got later in my career, I.
Didn't know if I had any other skills, Like I'm not going into acting, right, I can't sing, Like I don't know what I'm.
Going to do for the next forty years, you know.
But one thing that that I always kind of took pride in when I was playing was media stuff, you know, talking to people, sharing my story, and so I think that communication part of it became something that I was very, very comfortable with. And then I just love the game, like I love the nuances of of football. I love the team sport. I love the cat and mouse and the X and o's of of football. And so to not only have twelve year NFL career, but then you know,
see this game give me. I mean, now I've been out fifteen years, fifteen more years of a career, you know, in this business doing what I love to do. And you know, I love our studio show on NFL Network.
It's so much fun. You know, it's a different thing.
I love calling games because that's kind of the closest thing to playing because not only the atmosphere and being there, but you know the ability.
To have to react.
Now you're not reacting in four or five seconds, You're reacting over thirty seconds, but still to have to think fast and to process and be able to concisely share what just happened with a viewer so they understand it and you take them into the game. To me, it seemed like a very natural transition for me that I
you know, I count myself so fortunate, especially nowadays. There's so many people that want to get into this business and have this job, and former players that would love to be in this place, and so I'm you know, I consider myself very blessed to have been asked to be a part of the NFL network right out of this thing, to be able to to hook up with Westwood One and then some of the other networks to do the TV and radio games. And I love it. You know, every year it sounds like you love football.
But every year we get to this point and I can't wait. I can't wait to see what happens. I can't wait to watch Patrick Mahomes throw a football again. I can't wait to watch the best teams compete. I can't wait to break down the film and see, Okay, what are they doing? And you know, is there ways that I can help?
You know?
And it's kind of ironic that, you know, so much of what I do is really you know, designed around the fans, right, you know, tell them what to expect in this game and show them what's happening, and you know,
and do the color commentary. But my truest passion in doing this is I want to share something on Sunday mornings that one of these NFL quarterbacks or a college quarterback watches and goes, oh man, maybe I should be doing that or I can learn from that, you know, breaking it down on YouTube and hoping it get.
Back gets back to one of these quarterbacks.
So you know, there's some little nuance that I'm trying to to share with them that they can take and apply to their game to get better. That's my true pathage. I want to see all these guys that play quarterback be great, and I want to share all the knowledge I have with everybody that wants to play quarterback. And that's really what drives me on a daily basis. Even if I'm doing an XO on you know, game day morning on NFL Network for a fantasy, I'm really doing
that to go, hey, Tom Brady, watch this. I know you're great, but maybe you haven't thought about this, or you know, a young guy CJ. Stroud, Hey watch this breakdown and maybe you can pull some where. You know, one of the offensive coordinators in the league seeing me break down a tape and going, oh, man, you know we've never done that before. Maybe I should think about
adjusting that and challenge what I do. And so you know, that's that's part of my love is to be able to kind of share my expertise in hopes that it helps elevate the game of doesn't matter whether it's a great school quarterback, a high school quarterback, a college quarterback,
an NFL quarterback, an NFL coach, whatever that is. I kind of look at my job and take that responsibility with it in hopes that through the airwaves, I can have some kind of impact on the game, you know, similar to it to an impact that I had on the game when I was playing.
Well, it's here this week. We're back baby. The Ravens and the Chiefs kick it off. What is your hottest or boldest take from Kurt Warner for this season?
Man, you go try to throw me into the mix with all these hot take people. I try I try to avoid that hot take.
I'm not a hot take person either. Yeah, all right, how about this. Okay, give me two teams this year that are going to surprise.
People that are going to surprise people.
Or maybe that haven't been good for a while, but they may make a sneaky run.
Yeah, that's a good question. I don't want to say sneaky now because like the Bears. You know, everybody's talking about the Bears now. But I'm excited to watch the Bears now, like I think they do have a chance to compete for a playoff spot. Like, I really do think they've got a chance this year. Caleb plays decent, but I just liked their team in general. You know, I still live in Arizona too.
I love that. I'm sorry, I love that, Kurt, because you want to why. I love that because that gives Bears hopes fans hope, right, and their hope is going to be trashed immediately, But that's okay. I like when serious guys who know what they're talking about give Bears fans hope. I love that. Right at Arizona, they have hope.
Yeah, I live in Arizona, and so last year, you know, coach Gannon came in last year, and you know, Kyler Murray was heard. But you watch the team, and I love the way the team battled.
They competed.
Every game they competed.
They were right there and they didn't find ways to win it, but they were right there.
So I love what they're building here.
Now.
I'm not sure their roster is good enough to to really make a run in the playoffs, but I do believe their team that is that you're not gonna want to play like nobody's gonna want. It's not going to be an easy out when you play against the Arizona Cardinals. I think they have a chance to kind of push for a playoff spot. But I just think they're a team that people are going to go I don't want to play these guys like they are going to compete. They're gonna hit us in the mouth. They've got attitude,
They've got this talented young quarterback. I think they're gonna be really competitive this year. When most people are saying, ah, they're going to kick them to the curve, they're not going to be very good. I think they're gonna be sneaky competitive this year. And then another team, and again I don't want to say that they're off the radar. But another team that I'm really watching is the Houston Texans that I love CJ.
Stroud.
He was one of the first guys that I wanted to pop the tape on last year after every game because I fell in love with the way that he played the game and.
How good he was as a rookie.
Now they've improved their team and so I don't think they're gonna sneak up on anybody. And they want a playoff game last year, so I don't think they're going to sneak up on anybody.
But that's a team that I like.
You know, when you're talking about you know, the Lamar Jackson's and the Patrick Mahomes and the Joe Burrows and Aaron Rodgers and you know Josh Allen and the as, all these great teams led by these great quarterbacks in the AFC, don't be surprised if the Texans are right there in the mix when it's all said and done. It's another team I got my eye on that I'm kind of excited about. And then you know, maybe we throw in the Atlanta Falcons. I think they've they've made
some improvements there. Division's not great, but Kirk Cousins. I'd like to say I want to see him with this team. B John Robinson, a couple of big receivers on the outside. It's just another team that I know everybody thinks they're going to be good. But I just like kind of throwing out those teams that you don't necessarily expect to.
Compete for a Super Bowl.
But you know, I think Houston and Atlanta are are going to be in the mix. I think Chicago's got a chance to at least, like you said, give hope. You know, you know, you enter November and December and there's still a little hope there. And I think Arizona will surprise some people in terms of how competitive they are. I think they're gonna beat some They're gonna beat some good teams this year.
All right, Well, you and I are not fully aligned here, but I like where you're going at with the young quarterbacks, kleb young team and Arizona obviously good young team in Texas. I'm looking at the old guys. I'm looking at the Kurt Warners this year, and I'm looking at the Rams, okay, and I'm looking at the Jets.
Yeah, I had a feeling those were the two teams that you were you were looking at when you when you said that, And I think I think all eyes are on the Jets, like I mean, that's an exciting one. And I don't think they're sneaking up on anybody. You know, because a it's Aaron Rodgers. B they've got one of the best defenses in the league. You know, we're all gonna hold our breath that that team stays healthy, not just Aaron, because I mean, obviously Aaron is the Lynch
Pinda all of that. You know, he's got to stay healthy. But you know that can that team, that offensive line stay healthy, you know, can there receives stay healthy. But you know, I think you're right. I mean, if if they stay healthy, I truly believe they've got a chance to compete, to be in the Super Bowl without a doubt. And so you know, I'm hoping, you know, my fingers are crossed that they stay healthy. And man, it's gonna
make the AFC wild and awesome. You know, their division with Josh Allen and two over there and you know, and Rogers and then you know the entire.
AFC with like that would be awesome.
You know, you know, I want the Jets to be good, not only because it's good for the league, but obviously you want Jets fans to have something like the Bears fans, like give us something like we had this hope last year and you stole it from us.
And then I'm with you on the Rams.
You know, the Rams, I think we're better than people expected last year with Matthew Stafford.
You're exactly right. And an NFC that's not to me top heavy.
Like Philadelphia on paper, you know, have a really good football team. You know, a lot of people are talking about Green Bay. Okay, you know, I think Green Bay is going to be good, but they're not a team that I look at like, oh my gosh, they're scary. San Francisco, of course is going to be good again, but you just don't have a bunch of them like that you have in the AFC, where I fully believe. You know, the Rams are going to be good this year.
You know how good will be interesting because obviously win a Super Bowl a couple years ago, but playoff team again last year.
So I'm excited to see where they go.
And anytime you got a guy like that behind center, you always got a chance you know that you either have one or you don't.
If you have one, you got a chance. If you don't, you don't.
Yeah, Kurt, thank you so much for coming on. I've done over the last few years some work with the folks at Good Morning Football. But I'm always in New York and you're in LA. Now, who knows, maybe we'll run into each other there you go. Now they're in LA. You're gonna have to come out our direction in the hallways. Yes, such a pleasure. I know you're excited. I'm excited football is back. Yes, and we won't be looking forward to hearing you and and you're not so high takes. As the season goes on.
Who knows, But during the season I'd probably throw a couple of them out there. But hey, man, it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we do cross pass and I appreciate you having me on.
Man. Thanks Kurt, you got it, Kurt, it was so great to talk to you. Thank you. I know you're as excited as I am. Football is back. Listeners, enjoy football this week and enjoy us next week. We'll be back right here, same time, same place. Until then, have a great.
One off the beat.
Is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Ling Lee. Senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Brett,