Although Vermeil told Thomas that Vermeil doesn’t recall the conversation, former Rams G.M. Charley Armey was unequivocal.
“The decision to keep Kurt Warner was 100 percent Dick Vermeil,” Armey told Thomas. “Everybody was lobbying for other people, including the next year when Trent Green got hurt. Some guys wanted Jeff Hostetler and some guys wanted Jeff George. Dick Vermeil stuck to his guns.”
Vermeil added that Kroenke was “almost timid” regarding the Rams in those days, perhaps in deference to the late Georgia Frontiere, who became majority owner after her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, died in 1979.
Thomas also points out that Kroenke had limited opportunities to evaluate Warner in 1998. He missed the offseason program, because he was playing in NFL Europe. Also, Warner threw a total of four passes in the preseason.
“So apparently either Kroenke is a quick study in terms of what little he may have seen on the practice field,” Thomas writes. “Or he was grinding out practice tape or NFL Europe film in his spare time.”