That all makes ton of logical sense. Right with you there. But not if your name is Kurt Warner. Despite his actual physical capabilities, he thought he could play. He wanted to play. Meanwhile, Bulger was actually playing really well, also. So, we had two starting-caliber QB's (no arguments that KW's ceiling was much higher), and both wanted to start NOW. What do you do?
Rams went with the one that actually could physically play.
I don't remember the contract situations at the time. Could they have forced KW to sit on the bench under contract and heal? Maybe. I'm not sure that would have worked out any better. Meanwhile, what about Bulger's contract situation? When did his contract come up? Warner's hand wasn't really fully better for another couple of years (he didn't do great in New York). Could we have carried two high-price starting QB salaries simultaneously? Maybe we wouldn't have needed to? Again... I don't remember. Maybe someone can dig that up.
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Tony Romas
For me on KW, and I said it here back then, we had a all pro QB Rams FO needed to be sure he was done. His hand just needed to heal. We had Bulger why not think outside the box play Bulger for the year keep Kurt and next year see who is better. Just my take from the time