Kurt Warner, Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback

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One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. We continue this exact Yelp show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Let's go out to the guest line right now. Welcome in the Pro Football Hall of Famer. Of course, Kurt Warner is an NFL Network Analyst.

You can see Kurt every Sunday on NFL Network's NFL Game Day morning at 9 a.m. Eastern. Kurt Warner, how you been? I'm doing really well, Zach. How are you? I'm doing fantastic.

We'll see how I'm doing on Saturday. Big game for our owls as I could say that now as they welcome in a tough opponent in Miami. I got to ask you about your son who had an incredible freshman season at my alma mater. What did you kind of challenge him to do as he got set for that sophomore campaign? Well, I think the challenge is always just to continue to improve.

I mean, he had a great freshman year, as you said, a freshman All-American. So many good things. But you're just looking on the little things that you can improve on. I mean, he's got kind of the superpower of his ability to see the field and process information.

I'm kind of in awe every time I watch him on film. But, you know, there's always technique things that I'm always pushing him on because I think technique can always carry you. And as you know, you know, they're still working on the pieces up front. So, you know, he's playing under pressure in a lot of situations and the ability to be ready to throw and to be able to anticipate and have proper technique. There were some times last year I felt he was kind of falling away from some throws and not being able to get enough on the football. And so it's all those little things that, you know, the nuanced things that make great quarterbacks great. And so that was really the challenge going into this year.

And he's embracing that and continuing to work on it. We see what Coach Prime is doing right now with Deion Sanders with his sons at Colorado. Did you ever think about maybe becoming a college head coach one day? No, my wife kind of made me to commit that, you know, when I got done playing, I actually coached high school ball for my two boys. But she, you know, kind of made me commit that once they were done, that I was done from a, you know, full time coaching position. I've always loved to kind of game plan and I've always told people I'd love to be a consultant to help people game plan and design plays and do that sort of thing. But I don't think I'll ever do the grind of the everyday coaching.

Just too many other things that I want to do, too many kids that I want to chase around. So that's probably not in my future as much as I still love the coaching aspect and will do. You know, I've got my own Web site that's kind of a coaching and teaching platform. I do some individual coaching with high school, college and sometimes pro guys here at the house.

So I get my fix in a few different ways. But but I don't foresee myself getting into the coaching profession. I don't know how much you've seen of your old NFL Network colleague, Deion Sanders, over at Colorado, but his son, Jadore Sanders, really taking the nation by storm as a quarterback.

What stands out to you with your door? You know, I just think I just think he's a good, solid quarterback. I think they have a good scheme. I think he's a guy that wants to play inside the pocket. And what we've seen in the early stages here and a lot of people watch him play at Jackson State was just, you know, his ability to stand in there and make plays under pressure. That, to me, is the quarterback position in a nutshell, is that there's a lot of guys that can throw and there's a lot of guys in a perfect world that can play this position. But the ability to process information, to stand in there, and then when the pressure is the highest to make plays, Jadore has shown us, you know, a couple of times already this year that he's got that to him. And so I'm excited to see him progress, excited to see him play a little bit more. And, you know, I think he's got a bright future in college and then you're going to have a great opportunity in the NFL. The Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner here with us. When we get to Brock Purdy, another start, another win. He hasn't lost the game that he started and finished so far as an NFL quarterback. What do you think the ceiling is for Brock Purdy in the NFL?

You know, I think it's hard to say. What we know is that he's playing on a really, really good football team. And, you know, that's no, you know, that's no strike against Brock.

You know, you come into a perfect situation and you don't have to do everything. I think what we've seen with Brock is that, again, you know, kind of like we were talking, he's a guy that in the moment doesn't ever seem too big for him, that he's able to step in and make the plays that he needs to make. You know, the question when you talk about what his ceiling is, until we see him in situations where he's got to carry the team with his right arm, I don't think we're ever going to know what he can be as a quarterback. And again, when I say it's not a knock on him that he's around a good team, let's think back to Tom Brady. First few years that he played in winning a Super Bowl and he played in the Super Bowl against us in his first Super Bowl, he threw for 150 yards. So he wasn't the Tom Brady that we knew. Ben Roethlisberger played in a Super Bowl, you know, early on where he wasn't the center of things. He had a great team around him and they developed into those guys. And so that's why I want to be, you know, you know, make sure that it's not a knock on Brock, that he's playing with a good team right now and he's winning football games.

It's simply this is the phase he's in. And then there will probably come a time where he's got to be the guy and he's got to carry a team with his right arm. And that's where you find out how special and if these guys are, you know, the Pro Bowls or the elites or the Hall of Fame quarterbacks are the ones that ultimately show that they can carry the team when needed with their right arm. Brock hasn't really had to do that yet, yet he's playing the position perfectly for what they have and what they're asking him to do.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner here with us. When you take a look at the Jets, all the air went out of the balloon with the unfortunate Aaron Rodgers Achilles injury. Now people are starting to wonder, well, what can Zach Wilson do? There was a reason why they brought in Rodgers to replace the former second overall draft pick. Do you think the Jets eventually need to go make a move and get another quarterback or do you have no choice but to ride it out with Zach? I mean, I think you have to ride it with Zach at least right now. But yeah, I mean, I think that has to be in the back of their mind because Zach hasn't shown us, you know, from a consistent basis that he can go out and play playoff type football. And that's what they believe they have with this football team. And so you owe it to the team, you know, at some point to go, OK, this guy's not there. We've got to go get somebody. I felt like last year they gave him that shot. They realized that he wasn't there.

They went and got Aaron Rodgers. He's going to get another shot here for a few games to determine, can he be that guy? But if he can, if he's not there still at this point.

Yeah, I think it's a disservice. And again, first thing is you got to figure out who's out there, like who can you go and get? Who's who's going to be better served for you in the short term when you're training for somebody or picking somebody up. But if there is somebody out there that you feel gives you a better chance to win, then, yes, I believe the organization owes it to those other players now because they've given Zach his shot. You know, sometimes it is a you got to give a young guy a shot. He's not ready.

And you've got to bring the team along together. Well, he got a shot last year. He's going to get another shot this year. I think it shows again that you can't be that guy right now.

Yeah, I think they need to go and look and see and explore if there are some other options out there. One of those names that gets thrown out there is team started off 0-2. They could be 0-3 after this weekend against the Chargers is Kirk Cousins final year of that contract. Is that a name that maybe if it goes that way where Minnesota has taken phone calls that Joe Douglas should jump on?

Well, I mean, you know, it is one of those things that it's probably a one year contract. It's journeying against somebody that I think we all know is better than where Zach Wilson is at this point in his career. That's played some really, really good football type football. But I think, you know, the next question becomes, because a lot of people, the knock on Kirk Cousins is that he's a really good quarterback, but they don't know if he can lead a team to a championship. So that's the question you have to ask. Do you believe he's that guy?

Do you believe he can be that guy? And if you do, I think it is worth exploring if you've got the money there and you've got the ability to make that trade and bring Kirk Cousins in, coupled with the weapons and the people that they have for one year. I think it's worth exploring that, knowing that, you know, based on what we've heard, that Aaron will be back next year and you'll be able to make that run. But but, yeah, I mean, again, I think it's worth exploring if you believe that your team is a playoff team or a team that can compete for a championship. And you're one piece away. Yeah, you go and do whatever you have to do to get that piece.

And at least at least try. You know, you and I both know following the NFL is that these opportunities don't come around very often where you feel your team is in a place to win a championship. The teams that go on and have that sort of success or compete for those things are the ones that go all in. You know, I mean, we saw the L.A. Rams do that a couple of years ago. You know, Jared Goff had taken him to a Super Bowl.

Jared Goff is a really, really good starting quarterback in the NFL. But they said, hey, we've got to hedge our bets. We believe we're here. We need to go get Matthew Stafford and make this trade. And they go on and win a championship and didn't pay dividends last year as they had to do a lot of different things. But they went all in with their chips going, this is about winning championships. We'll win one now. If we've got to take a couple of years and, you know, and figure out how to work it around that, we will. But winning a championship is what most organizations are all about.

So you go all in to try to do that. Talking to the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner, what advice, rough week for Justin Fields, throws the coaching staff under the bus, then had to walk it back, said everything's fine. They had that fake hug in practice with the O.C. What advice do you give to Justin Fields? Because I feel as if probably, right, Bears going to be picking in the top five. They have two first round picks this year that they're going to be looking for a new quarterback after this season. Well, I mean, the advice is that you have to keep growing as a quarterback and as a leader. You know, you have to keep working through some of the issues that you have, both as a team and individually. I mean, that's the only thing that you can do. I mean, the one thing that we know about this league is that if you're playing quarterback and you're not good enough, this league will swallow you up.

I mean, that's just how it is. And right now, Justin Fields is not good enough across the board. Doesn't mean he doesn't have talent. Doesn't mean he hasn't shown us some special traits over the last couple of years. But he's not consistently playing good enough to be in that position and to be able to, you know, to help make up for some of the issues that they have there. I mean, I'm not going to be the first one to sit here and say, oh, it's all Justin Fields. I mean, they've got some issues up front.

They've got some issues, I think, scheme wise at times. And then Justin has to get better. And so all you can really do is take ownership of what part of this is yours. Continue to work with your coaches and try to develop a system that fits your skill set. But as quarterbacks, we've got to take ownership, ownership of where we're not doing it well enough. And that's all I would say to him is where you know you have to get better, work to get better. You know, there's going to be times that, you know, everything doesn't play in our favor, but you have to know what you know who you are, what you are as a quarterback. And you have to improve in those areas so you can, you know, be ready for this. You can handle this.

You can carry a team if they're asking you to do that. I know it's only week two, Kurt Warner, but do the Dolphins, as they get set for week three, look like a Super Bowl team to you as long as to it could stay healthy? I think they're going to be competitive. You know, I think what we've seen so far this year is that just like every year, you know, each team has their flaws.

There's nobody that's invincible out there. You know, San Francisco looks pretty good right now. Maybe that team Dallas was was maybe on the verge. You know, we'll see how they respond with Trayvon digs and the injury news. But, you know, even the Eagles, really good team. But there's some struggles this year. Miami, you know, the first game, they look like world beater.

Second game. They looked, you know, more more human. And so that to me is I think Miami is going to be in the mix. I think they have the playmakers as long as to stay healthy. I think their defense is improved from where they were last year. But but I don't think they're a flawless team. I don't think they're a team that can't be beat.

But we've seen that already. The Chiefs are there. The Bengals off to an 0 and 2 start. The Ravens, although to an 0, you know, haven't looked great either. So all these teams that we thought in the AFC were going to be, you know, the pick of the litter and the best teams in the league have all shown us that there's some changes in the armor. And so that's what's going to make it fun.

You know, continue to grow. As you said, it's only week two. You know, we got to see where these teams can go from here.

But I definitely think Miami is going to be in the mix. Do you have any optimism with Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson that they could get back to being consistently great quarterbacks once again? You know, I'm concerned.

I'm concerned about both of them. You know, when I watched Deshaun Watson in Houston, although he put up great numbers, I always felt like a lot of those numbers came in games where they weren't competitive. And from him buying time, creating and being that special athlete, but that there were often times that he would hold the football and wouldn't be able to kind of process information quickly enough inside the pocket, you know, as a pocket passer. Those are the same concerns that I'm seeing now is that, you know, he took some time off. I don't know if he's the same athlete that he was when he was in Houston. But when you watch him play, he's holding the ball too long. He's not processing the information as fast as you want him to. And so that's where you start to get concerns is, you know, as players get older and older, you say you can't always rely on the athletic ability.

We need you to see process and grow more, you know, more passes on time. So I haven't seen that necessarily this year, even though it's off to coach the fans. He thought he was going to turn that corner and get back to more of what we saw in Houston. But without the ability to do that, I'm always worried about a quarterback. So it leads me into Russell Wilson. We've seen some good things from Russell Wilson this year that we didn't see last year.

When you stay in his wheelhouse, the play actions, you know, you do things where it's kind of mirrored on both sides so we can pick a side and just let it rip. But I really believe Russell, when he came to Denver, was saying, I want to show the world that I can be a pocket passer, that I can read the field, I can dissect what defenses are doing, and I can get the ball to the right guy. When they've asked him to do that over the last couple of years, he's really struggled. And we know Russell, even older than Deshaun, doesn't have kind of the same juice that he had a few years ago. And so if you can't get to that point where you can process C and get the ball out on time, you always wonder what a quarterback can be as they get into their early 30s and their mid 30s. And so those are my concerns with those guys. I want to see them process a little bit better. I want to see them process faster and get the ball out of their hands and not have to rely so much on being athletes because it feels like both of them have lost a little of that for different reasons.

But I do still have concerns about both of them. Last thing I'll ask you as a Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner is with us. Of course, a great NFL Network analyst.

You could see Kurt every Sunday at NFL Network's NFL Game Day morning at 9 a.m. Eastern. Jordan Love, he's been impressive through the first two games. What have you been seeing using your QB brain? Yeah, I think the thing with Jordan is that he hasn't really done anything to wow us. And so, you know, the natural thing is Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers.

Can Jordan Love be the next Hall of Famer in a Green Bay uniform? I can't say that I've seen anything that jumps off the table about what he does necessarily physically or anything. But I think in the early stages, his ability to have the command of their offense, his ability to be comfortable and to make the plays that are in front of them have been really, really impressive. You know, he's not making dumb plays.

He doesn't look like he's panicking in the pocket. He's playing good, solid football, you know, up to this point. And that, to me, I love that. That is winning football in the National Football League. And then we always say, if you can get to winning football, you've got a chance as a team.

Now, what can you give me that's extra? You know, and the extra is what makes teams championship teams. That's what makes, you know, quarterbacks Hall of Fame or elite quarterbacks is what they can do from an extra standpoint. And, you know, I'm still waiting to see what that can be specifically for Jordan Love. But I have been very, very impressed with how he's played, his comfort in that offense, and the fact that it doesn't seem like it's too big and then he's out there panicking, where I've seen, you know, quarterbacks that have played a lot more football that seem to be more in that state this year than he does. Kurt Warner, always a treat to have you on. Good luck to our owls this weekend. Let's get a big W up against Miami. All right. That would be awesome, Zach.

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