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Kurt Warner: I would’ve considered a return to the Cardinals

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If the Cardinals had wanted to replace Ryan Lindley with Kurt Warner for their playoff run, Warner was open to it.

Warner, who has hinted before that he was interested in playing for the Cardinals after first-string quarterback Carson Palmer and second-string quarterback Drew Stanton both got hurt, confirmed today that he was open to it if coach Bruce Arians had reached out.

“There was a scenario where I would have considered it,” Warner said on the Dan Patrick Show. “I don’t know what I would have done.”

The 43-year-old Warner said he talked to Arians and G.M. Steve Keim “in passing” but that he doesn’t think they were ever seriously interested in bringing him back. But Warner himself was interested enough that he talked to his wife and kids about it, and they were supportive.

Realistically, it probably couldn’t have happened even if the Cardinals had wanted to do it. Under NFL rules, Warner would have had to pass through waivers before the Cardinals could bring him back, and some other NFC team almost certainly would have put in a waiver claim just to block Warner from the Cardinals. The Panthers, for instance, were ahead of the Cardinals in the waiver order and surely would have blocked Warner from returning. Wouldn’t you rather face Ryan Lindley in a playoff game?

So it was never really close to happening. But Warner was open to it. And it would have been fun to see him give it a shot.