It remains unlikely that former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner will return to the team after five years away. And it wouldn’t be easy for them to get him, if he perhaps decided while under the influence of egg nog to expose his noggin to further physical contact.
But it wouldn’t be impossible. Sure, it’s too late for the Cardinals to reinstate Warner from the reserve/retired list. But there’s a way to make it happen.
Per a league source, the Cardinals could release Warner from the reserve/retired list and then re-sign him. However, Warner would first pass through waivers, which would allow any other team to disrupt the arrangement by making a claim for his contract.
That’s precisely what happened 12 years ago, when Deion Sanders wanted to unretire and climb aboard the Oakland bandwagon. After Washington released Sanders from the reserve/retired list, the Chargers (coached at the time by former Washington coach Marty Schottenheimer, whose arrival prompted Sanders to quit in the first place) claimed Sanders on waivers, short-circuiting Deion’s desire to help the Raiders win a Super Bowl.
Any other team could do the same thing to the Cardinals, if they were to release Warner’s rights. The Rams and coach Jeff Fisher could be inclined to do it, especially after that 8-8 remark from Bruce Arians a couple of weeks ago.
