Dan Pompei

Retirement may be calling Kurt Warner, but so is Larry Fitzgerald. And Steve Breaston.

"Over here! I'm open! Get me the ball!"

For the time being, at least, Warner is more inclined to answer his wide receivers than his desire to walk away from the game in one piece. And a good thing it is for the Cardinals.

Warner still is a very good quarterback, and one of the main reasons the Cardinals are contending. He ranks first in the NFL in first down percentage, second in completion percentage, third in passer rating and passing yards, and fourth in average per completion and touchdown passes.

Waning ability is not the issue here.

You could see a scenario in the future, maybe even after this season, when the 37-year old and the Cardinals take different paths. The Cardinals have not permanently given up on Matt Leinart. There is at least a 50-50 chance at this point, maybe a 60-40 chance, that Leinart will be the opening day starter in 2009.

Warner has accomplished quite a bit in his 11 NFL seasons. He has played in two Super Bowls and lost one. He is a two-time most valuable player, and was also named Super Bowl MVP. He is a three time Pro Bowler who has led the league in passing yards three times and passer rating twice. If he walked away tomorrow, he'd at the very least be a good candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But he also has taken quite a beating in his career. Because of his style of play, Warner takes more punishment than most quarterbacks. This season, he already has been sacked 12 times this season and fumbled five times.

Given his age and his inclination to take the hit, there are legitimate concerns about Warner's durability. There is at least a decent chance that at some point Warner is going to miss time because of injury.

Warner recently has talked about wanting to be able to walk away from the game with his health. Which has led to contemplations about retirement.

If Warner were to be injured this year, it would be a serious blow to the Cardinals. Unless in the last month and a half Leinart suddenly has discovered something that was missing in the preseason, Leinart is not ready to play championship caliber football. His inability to take the next step in training camp was somewhat mystifying to the Cardinals coaches, who were ready to hand him the starting job on a pewter platter.

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Leinart is a gifted player whose future still looks bright from this corner, but the 2008 Cardinals need a healthy Warner to be all they can.

In addition to Warner's ability to pick apart a defense, they need him for his leadership and the confidence he gives a team. When you go to war with Warner on your side, you believe you can accomplish great things, unexpected things, because Warner has done it all before.

You never can tell a player to play it safe, because that would take away from his aggression. But the Cardinals, as well as their aging quarterback, might be best served if Warner were to take fewer deeper drops, and if he were to make a conscious effort to get rid of the ball before pass rushers can make him look like a bug on a windshield.

This way, the Cardinals could keep winning. And Warner could keep playing.

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