Top 10 NFL players that retired too soon

4. Kurt Warner

It’s hard to think that Kurt Warner retired early after looking at all of his accomplishments as a professional quarterback. He won two NFL MVP’s, one Super bowl, owns the seventh highest career completion percentage in NFL history (65.5%) and holds the highest completion percentage for a single game during the regular season at 92.3% (24/26). He retired after 12 years in the NFL going out as one of the best of all time. But certain things lead to the idea that Warner still had something left in the tank and could have won another Super bowl.

Before he retired for good, Warner led the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl berth in franchise history during one of five stellar seasons with the team. In 2009, he led the Cardinals to one playoff win over the Green Bay Packers in the Wildcard game. But they eventually lost to the New Orleans Saints the next game. Warner cited reasons for leaving the NFL such as wanting to help raise his kids and spend more time with his wife. But Cardinals fans everywhere wondered whether or not their team could’ve made one more Super Bowl run if Warner had stayed with the team for one more year.

What raises even one more eye brow to the situation was during the 2015 season, Warner entertained the idea of returning as the Cardinals quarterback during the playoffs after injuries crippled Arizona at the quarterback position. But no one from the Cardinals organization called.

If Warner would have come back and led the Cardinals to another Super bowl appearance it would forever go down as one of the best come backs in the history of the NFL. Unfortunately, we will always wonder what could have been if Warner wouldn’t have retired in 2009. Maybe another Super bowl would have been in store for the quarterback. But I guess we will never know because of another NFL career that ended too soon.

Next: 3. Barry Sanders