Passing on Warner a moot point

<p>SANTA CLARA — A throng of news reporters and TV cameras lined the 49ers' driveway March 2 as veteran quarterback Kurt Warner returned from a physical examination.</p><p>Warner, sitting in the passenger seat, sheepishly waved to the media. He looked as if he wanted to be somewhere — anywhere — else.</p><p>By that time, Warner knew his heart was set on returning to finish his career with the Arizona Cardinals. But when he and his wife, Brenda, boarded the private jet the 49ers sent for them that morning, he said his mind was open to the possibility of uprooting his family and signing with a new team.</p><p>Shortly after returning from his dalliance with the 49ers, Warner received an improved offer from the Cardinals. Although the 49ers were prepared to pay him more money, Warner signed a two-year, $23 million contract to remain where he spent the past four seasons.</p><p>“Obviously, I was crossing my fingers, hoping we'd be able to get him back,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Any time a player takes a visit, you never know what's going to happen.”</p><p>Warner said Wednesday on a conference call with Bay Area reporters that he mostly liked what he heard during his visit. Niners coach Mike Singletary produced a model of what he is trying to accomplish with the organization. Warner was on board with everything he heard.</p><p>And then they talked football.</p><p>“It was not the perfect fit, football-wise,” Warner said Wednesday, four days before the 49ers open the regular season against Warner's Cardinals.</p><p>Warner, one of the most prolific passers of this generation, was being recruited by a team that wanted to feature a stout running attack.</p><p>“Initially, what we talked a lot about was run then pass,” Warner said. “Coach (Singletary) wants a ball-control offense where you run the ball first and pass second. I like to pass the ball first and run second.</p><p>“From a philosophical standpoint, it didn't match up with what's deep in his heart and what's deep in my heart.”</p><p>Although Warner said the 49ers eventually expressed an openness “to do some of the things I do well,” it was clear Warner's best fit was back with the Cardinals — the organization he helped lead out of the abyss and to the Super Bowl last season.</p><p>That became apparent, Warner said, when he spoke with Singletary and heard his vision for the 49ers organization.</p><p> Singletary has declined to speak about the 49ers' flirtation with Warner. In fact, he opened his press conference Wednesday with a prepared statement in which he said he would not answer questions about Warner, Michael Crabtree or the 49ers' last-second loss to the Arizona Cardinals.</p><p>“That's already been handled, already been dealt with — don't want to go there,” Singletary said of the 49ers' pursuit of Warner.</p><p>Singletary did not want to discuss the reasons for the team's attraction to Warner, but it was obvious when he later referred to him as a “Hall of Fame quarterback.”</p><p>The man who benefited most from Warner's decision to remain with the Cardinals is 49ers starting quarterback Shaun Hill.</p><p>He was blissfully unaware of the developments while trout-fishing on Missouri's Niangua River. When he received word of Warner's re-signing, he told The Press Democrat, “I'm happy he decided to return to the Cardinals.”</p><p>Six months later, Hill still isn't getting too worked up about the 49ers' trying to find someone else to take his job.</p><p>“I didn't read too much into it,” he said.</p><p>For more on the 49ers, go to Instant 49ers at blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers. You can reach Staff Writer</p><p>Matt Maiocco at matt.maiocco@pressdemocrat</p><p>.com</p>