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Former MVP looks for team pending contract release
Salary cap prevents reunion
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Don't expect Kurt Warner to find his next home with the coach that gave him his break in the NFL.
Vermeil, who embraced Warner as his starter in St. Louis after No. 1 quarterback Trent Green injured his knee before the 1999 season, has reluctantly decided not to pursue Warner as backup for current team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
With Vermeil as his coach, Warner led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title after taking over for Green. The two-time MVP also took the Rams to the Super Bowl two years later, after Vermeil had spent a year in retirement and then moved to Kansas City.
"We can't afford to," Vermeil said. "I don't question his ability to play at all. But we have a No. 1 and a No. 2 quarterback and we cannot afford to put the money into a No. 3 guy."
City. Mark Bartelstein, Warner's agent, said yesterday the Rams had told him they would give him his release after June 1.
Career in St. Louis rose, then fell fast
Green, now the Kansas City starter, combined with running back Priest Holmes to give the Chiefs the No. 2 offense in the NFL last year during a 13-3 regular-season campaign. He averaged almost 250 yards passing and was named to his first Pro Bowl.
Whatever salary cap room the Chiefs can find will be devoted to defense, where the Chiefs ranked 29th last year.
"Kurt Warner will wind up with another team and he'll play well," he said.
29th last year. Vermilil predicted the NFL had not heard the last of Warner.
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Kurt Warner's storybook career with the St. Louis Rams is all but over.
The two-time NFL MVP expects to be released after being told he won't be the Rams' starting quarterback next season, his agent, Mark Bartelstein, said yesterday.
Mark Barrett
Warner, who rose from a small-college star stocking grocery store shelves to a Super Bowl hero, was given permission to contact other teams.
Coach Mike Martz met with Warner and starter Marc Bulger to tell them of the decision, Bartelstein said. The move ends off-season talk of training-camp competition between the two.
competition between Bartelstein said he expects a lot of interest in Warner from other teams. "He's too good of a quarter-back to sit on the bench," he said.
St. Louis would probably wait after June 1 to cut Warner to reduce the effect on its salary cap.
St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner talked with reporters during Media Day for Super Bowl XXXVI on Jan. 29, 2002.
cap.
Rams spokesman Duane Lewis said Martz would address the situation at a pre-draft news conference today, but he added,
"At this point, nothing is final."
Arnold played all but one game last season after Warner sustained a concussion and fumbled sixtimes in the opening loss to the New York Giants. Bulger was a Pro Bowl alternate and ended up as the MVP in that game in February.
arry.
Warner appeared in only one other game, in a mop-up role. It was a long fall from grace for a star who led the Rams to two Super Bowls.
Warner led the NFL with 41 touchdown passes, helped the Rams build a 13-3 record and was the Super Bowl MVP after a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans
Bowls. Warner got the starting job in 1999 after Trent Green injured his knee. The season became a blur of success for a team that had endured a decade of losing records.
After an injury-plagued 2000 season, he was back for more in 2001, leading the Rams to a 14-2 record. But the favored Rams lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and nothing much went right for Warner after that.
He missed half of the 2002 season with hand injuries, throwing only three touchdown passes with 11 interceptions. That gave Bulger his first chance to shine with victories in his first six career starts.
George Bridges/KRT
starts.
Warner appeared to have regained his form last year with a strong preseason before his stumbling start in New York. But Bulger never gave the Rams a reason to reconsider Warner the rest of the year.
Warner, who is deeply religious, also didn't help his cause when he said on Super Bowl Sunday that Rams coaches advised him to spend more time on the playbook than the Bible.
playbook than the LIB. The quarterback later apologized for the remarks, which angered Martz, and his agent said they had been taken out of context.
Warner's fate probably was sealed when Bulger, a restricted free agent, did not receive an offer sheet from another team by Friday's deadline.
day's deadline
Earlier in the offseason, the
Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as a backup, the first signal that they were prepared to cut Warner or Bulger.
There's a slight chance the 32-year-old Warner could be back. If the Rams are unable to sign Bulger to a long-term contract, or if Bulger or Chandler gets injured, the situation could change.
"It's not written in stone ... but that's the path we're heading toward," Bartelstein said.
toward, Barry Warner's days with the Rams are done, the Kansas City Chiefs apparently won't be among the teams courting his services, in their case as a potential backup, Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said
yesterday.
"We can't afford to," said Vermeil, who was heading the Rams when Warner guided them to the 2000 title. "I don't question his ability to play at all. But we have a No. 1 and a No. 2 quarterback and we can't afford to put the money into a No. 3 guy."