Warner is no Hall of Famer

By John McMullen  |   Friday, February 06, 2009  |  Comments( 11 )

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Longtime readers of this column know I'm not exactly in love with the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection process. It's steeped in politics and more about the ego and good old-fashioned hubris among the Hall's Board of Selectors.

The Board making these decisions consists of one media representative from each pro football city with two from New York. A 33rd member is a representative of the Pro Football Writers of America (an organization I belong to), and there are about a dozen at-large delegates. The selectors then meet with the media representatives introducing and making the case for players from the team they cover.

Most of the voters are well versed on their city's team and little else. For example, the day after the Super Bowl, I heard one well-known national analyst dismiss Kurt Warner's Hall of Fame credentials by explaining Fran Tarkenton started three Super Bowls and "he isn't in."

A salient point, perhaps, except for the fact that the ex-Vikings great has been in the Hall since 1986.

After I got done chuckling, I took up the Warner case myself. Is the former two-time MVP worthy of the Hall of Fame?

Coaches are often slaves to their systems. Some like Brian Billick, Jon Gruden and Brad Childress are filled with so much egoism that they think they could make you and me into solid NFL quarterbacks simply because their "systems" are that sound.

To me, Warner is the ultimate system quarterback.

Some might consider that an insult, but it's really not. When Warner has had big-time weapons around him in St. Louis and Arizona, his quick release and accuracy have enabled him to excel at a high level. In fact, a higher level than a lot of really good quarterbacks like Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre and Warner's Super Bowl XLIII counterpart, Ben Roethlisberger. A high enough level to earn those two MVP awards and carry two different franchises to the Big Game, feats most quarterbacks can only dream of.

But when things are breaking down and you need your QB to make something happen with a little sandlot football, Warner is an albatross.

In fact, the former Arena League player and grocery bag boy is just a month removed from being labeled as a journeyman from most of the NFL observers who are now trumpeting him for the Hall.

So, as I weighed Warner's future candidacy, at the end of the day for me, it was all about longevity.

Warner has played in all 16 games exactly three times in his career, during the 1999, 2001 and 2008 seasons. He was 35-8 as starter from '99-01 with the Rams. However, Warner was less than pedestrian in his dying days in St. Louis and downright bad in New York and in the desert until this past season. From '02 to '07, Warner was a miserable 13-29 as a starter.

His reclamation in 2008 was truly amazing, but it proves he's a system product.

Warner can certainly play like a Hall of Famer when he has Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Az Hakim or Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston to throw to. That doesn't make him one.

Four years of high-level football, no matter how good they are, are not enough to get you in my Hall of Fame.

Whether it's enough to earn Warner a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we'll see.
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About John McMullen

John is the managing editor of The Phanatic Magazine, the assistant managing editor of The Sports Network and the co-host of the highly rated 'Johns on Sports' radio show on WTBQ in New York. Every Saturday from 6:30-9 p.m. (et) you can hear John along with his co-host, John Gottlieb, talk to the...
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CommentsComments: 11  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
10:28 AM
02/06/2009
All this author proves is that even great quarterbacks can't win without talent around them. I wonder if he feels Peyton Manning...
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No.2
Os Davis		03:51 PM
02/06/2009
Hear, hear, John! As i've told my Rams-backing friend Paul, Warner only makes the Hall of Fame if you count Arena League and NFL...
No.3
Big Tex		09:26 PM
02/06/2009
Joe Namath was a .500 QB who threw fewer TDs than Kurt and over 100 more INTs. If Joe Willy is in, how can you deny Warner?
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