Rams News

Kurt Warner will be Rams' third-string
QB behind Banks and Bono
08/25 07:59 PM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch

The new Rams quarterback is no overnight sensation.
In the summer of '94, Kurt Warner competed with Brett Favre, Mark Brunell and Ty Detmer -- how's that for a trifecta? -- in Green Bay's training camp. He didn't get the job.
So he knocked around for three seasons with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena League. He spent this past spring with the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe.
There have been trials and tribulations off the field as well. His 9-year-old son Zachary has been blind since suffering a head injury in an accident as a 6-month-old child. His wife's mother and father were killed in a tornado a couple of years ago in Mountain View, Ark.
So the anxiety and inconveniences of sweating out the Rams' job were hurdles, but not insurmountable obstacles.
Zachary and 6-year-old daughter Jesse started school Monday in suburban Des Moines. Warner, an Iowa native, has been living in a hotel since the end of training camp. But his wife Brenda, who's pregnant and due in October, stayed back in Iowa with the children.
Warner didn't want to summon them to St. Louis until he knew he had a job. It is now officially safe for the Warners to drive south. There will be new schools to attend, and a new residence to call home.
At age 27, Warner has made his first NFL roster. The Rams released Will Furrer on Tuesday, meaning they will keep Tony Banks, Steve Bono and Warner as their three quarterbacks entering the regular season.
``I've been through a lot of situations, and I knew whatever happened here wasn't going to determine what happened in my life,'' Warner said. ``I knew I was going to be successful, whether it be here or somewhere else.''
Still, there were some anxious moments in the past few days, as the Rams worked their way toward Tuesday's mandatory roster cutdown to 60 players.
``You obviously sit up and think about it because you don't want to put in all the effort, and not make it,'' Warner said.
But when he showed up for the Rams' quarterbacks meeting early Tuesday morning, he noticed one empty chair -- Furrer's. Then offensive coordinator Jerry Rhome and quarterbacks coach Mike White congratulated him on making the team.
Warner practically floated out to the practice field later in the morning, then realized that one man's fortune was another's misfortune.
``That's the worst part,'' Warner said. ``It's something I've worked for for a long time, to get this opportunity. But I didn't feel quite as good as I thought I would, just because of the situation I went through with Will. I got to know Will quite a bit.
``He helped a lot -- sitting down and talking to me about a lot of things in the offense, and really helping me get a handle on things. And then to have it come down to you or him for the position.''
Technically, the Rams say that it was Steve Bono that Furrer had to beat out for the second job, and not Warner for the third. They didn't want to keep Furrer as a 30-year-old third string quarterback. But the point would have been moot had Warner been overmatched this preseason.
He wasn't.
``He's got a lot of confidence, and he's got a lot of poise,'' White said.
And he brought some positives along from the Arena League -- which basically is a passing league and uses a compressed 55-yard playing field.
``He has the ability to the throw the ball, and throw it quickly, and throw it off-balance,'' White said. ``He's very, very accurate. He can throw it in small spaces.''
But those observations come largely from watching Warner on the practice field. He has made the roster after throwing four -- count 'em, four -- passes in preseason games.
When asked if there was a danger in evaluating a player almost exclusively on practice play, coach Dick Vermeil said, ``Sure.''
But Vermeil quickly added, ``I think everybody on the offensive football team is impressed with him. He has some natural quarterback abilities that you can't coach. . . . He has a natural feel.''
Warner went four for four for 25 yards in the preseason opener against Denver, losing a fumble on a potential game-tying drive in the fourth quarter. He didn't play the following week in San Diego and didn't throw a pass in two series Saturday against Dallas.
So, yes, Warner was concerned that his lack of playing time might hurt his chance of making the team.
``I didn't know how they were going to weigh that, and what the determining factors were,'' Warner said. ``But I think they've seen enough that they see the potential, and they see the chance that I might be able to make a difference with this team.
``And that's what I've got to build on. My future is out there a year or two. It's not going to be right now. I'm just going to take everything in, and try to continue to learn.''
And when opportunity knocks?
``Just be ready for it and take advantage of it,'' Warner said.

ARCHIVE

HOME