For he's a jolly good fellow....

Kurt Warner, 38 year old Quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, and one of the best playing the game today (arguably one of the best ever), has decided to retire. He has high and lows in his career, and has managed to keep just below the radar the last few years. People always knew he was good... but I don't think they realized just how good he really is. So in honor of his twelve years in the NFL, here are some pretty awe inspiring statistics to remember him by.

• He is a four time pro-bowl quarterback (1999, 2000, 2001, 2008)
• Two time NFL MVP (1999, 2001)
• Second QB in history to start in the Super Bowl with two different teams
• Has a career passer rating on 93.7 which ranks him third in NFL history behind only Steve Young (96.8) and Peyton Manning (94.7)
• Didn't get his first start until the age of 28
• In a comparison with the 14 quarterbacks to make the Hall of Fame in the last 25 years, Warner has a better career completion percentage, yards per pass attempt, and yards per game. Only Dan Marino had more 300-yard passing games.
  
• In 124 regular season games, Warner completed 65.5 percent of his passes for 32,344 yards and 208 touchdowns. He and Fran Tarkenton are the only NFL quarterbacks to throw for 100 touchdowns and 14,000 yards for two teams.
• He was the fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 yards passing and tied Marino as fastest to reach 30,000
• He has the top three passing performances in Super Bowl history. His 1,156 yards passing in the 2008 playoffs broke the NFL record of 1,063 he set with St. Louis in 1999.

What is even more amazing is that in between stints in the NFL Europe and Arena Football League he was stocking groceries back home in Iowa.

He is not only a great player, but a great man, winning the 2008 NFL Man of the Year award.

So here's to you Kurt (pause to raise your glass) ... See you in the Hall of Fame.





Video and Stats from ESPN.com