Kurt Warner on why he’ll forever be grateful to former Chiefs quarterback Trent Green
Kurt Warner played 12 NFL seasons with three franchises and appeared in the Super Bowl with two teams.
Warner helped the Rams win Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000 and he won a pair of NFL MVP awards.
When he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Warner could have thanked any number of former teammates, but he singled out just one: former Chiefs quarterback Trent Green.
Warner was a backup for the Rams in 1998 when they had a 4-12 record. Green joined the Rams and was the starter.
But Green was injured in a preseason game and missed the entire season. Warner stepped in and found immediate success, helping the Rams make the Super Bowl. Warner’s career took off after that.
While a guest on Morten Andersen’s podcast, “Great Dane Nation presented by VegasInsider.com,” Warner explained why he is so grateful for Green.
“It’s the ultimate team game so I never wanted to just pull out three or four guys, but the one guy that I did address specifically in my Hall of Fame speech was Trent Green, because he was kind of the forgotten guy, but he did so much for our team, but he did so much for me, personally,” Warner said.
“It would have been easy, and I would have fully understood, if Trent got to that spot and he suffered the injury, and he was mad, and he was angry and he was bitter, and then this guy that comes in is having success with his team and what he had started. But there was none of that whatsoever with Trent Green. He was the ultimate pro, and I would continually ask him questions and call him up. He had been in the offense before and I would ask him about nuances and little things within the offense.
“Every time he was more than gracious to just answer my questions, to help me out to be there for me as I was going through all of this and trying to manage and handle all of this, both on and off the football field. He was so instrumental in my journey and specifically in that first year, with what we accomplished. And so I felt it was so important in my Hall of Fame speech to give credit where credit was due.”
Warner said Green’s graciousness during a difficult period became a model.
“I ended up getting benched three different times throughout my career after that for young guys, and I found myself very similarly in a Trent Green situation, and I had to figure out how I was going to handle it,” Warner said. “How he handled it with me and what he did for me, went a long ways in shaping how I would end up, mentoring or how I would help those young guys.”
Following the 2000 season, Green was traded to the Chiefs and helped KC to a pair of playoff appearances in six seasons. In that span, Green had 21,459 passing yards and 118 touchdowns, which are both the second-most in franchise history.
“That was one of the things, at the end of the day, I felt so glad about,” Warner said. “I could easily have seen Trent Green getting a bust in Canton had he not gotten injured and made a run with that team. So as you said he went on to Kansas City and did some really, really good things there.
“That was fun to be able to watch him and cheer him from afar.”
