The fact the folks supposedly in the know are even debating whether or not Kurt Warner is going to be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is absolutely absurd. The only question regarding Warner’s inevitable and much deserved entrance into Canton’s hallowed halls is whether or not he’ll go in on the first ballot.

Warner singlehandedly turned two inconsequential franchises into contenders, one a champion. The Rams were a total joke around the league until Warner took the reins and led them to the top of the world. The Cardinals were an even bigger joke. Enter Warner, and a few years later they’re playing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

While everyone likes to look at stats when discussing Hall validity, sometimes common sense has to enter into the fray. And this isn’t to say that Warner doesn’t have the stats because with the third-highest all-time QB rating in the history of the NFL, that really says it all. So does winning two NFL MVP awards and another MVP in Super Bowl XXXIV.

But the guy was a football player, plain and simple, and a great one. Stats show that Phil Simms should be in the Hall of Fame and not Joe Namath. Anyone with half a football brain knows that’s not nearly the case.

Stats don’t make you a winner. Kurt Warner was – and always will be – a winner. He made the players around him better. He took lousy teams and raised up their play.

And while off-the-field actions aren’t supposed to enter into the Hall decision, we all know they do. A certain handful of jackasses, most notably the clown from San Diego, tried their best to keep the legendary, devastating Lawrence Taylor out of Canton during his first year of eligibility.

It’s just the opposite with Warner. He might have been the most kind, genuine and caring man ever to toil in the NFL. But all that does is further put him over the top.

What he did on the field was more than enough to warrant not only entrance in the Hall of Fame, but entrance immediately after the five-year waiting period ends.

Congratulations to Warner, who did everything and handled every situation with the utmost of class.

He’s going in and he couldn’t possibly deserve it any more.