Kurt Warner began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent. Warner’s son, E.J. Warner, is now trying to do the same.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported this week Warner will try out for a roster spot with the Denver Broncos this weekend at the team’s rookie minicamp.
The tryout will come a week after Warner was at the Kansas City Chiefs minicamp from May 1-3.
The younger Warner played quarterback at Temple, Rice and Fresno State during his college career from 2022-25. In 2025, he posted a 69.3% completion percentage with 2,030 passing yards and 13 touchdowns.
Warner also averaged 7.3 yards per pass with 11 interceptions in 10 games for Fresno State.
Kurt Warner’s Son, E.J. Set to Try out for Broncos: Report
The Broncos will hold their rookie minicamp this weekend from May 8-10. Warner’s son will show Broncos head coach and offensive guru Sean Payton and the rest of Denver’s offensive staff what he can do.
Warner wasn’t particularly careful with the ball during his college career. Whichever conference he was playing at the college level, he led it every year in interceptions.
But at Temple in 2023, Warner led the American conference with 307.6 passing yards per game. His completion percentage in 2025 led the Mountain West conference.
Warner’s accuracy improved each of his last two seasons in college. The quarterback’s completion percentage rose despite changing teams and thus working with different playbooks and receivers.
The Broncos enter rookie minicamp without a first-year signal-caller on their roster. They also only have three quarterbacks under contract.
While that’s enough for the regular season, NFL teams often have four quarterback on their 90-man rosters during the offseason.
Bo Nix is set to return to Denver for his third season. Jarrett Stidham is also back as Nix’s backup. Stidham started in the AFC championship game for an injured Nix.
Sam Ehlinger is also on Denver’s roster as a QB3.
From a sheer numbers perspective, Warner likely has a better chance of making the Broncos roster than he did with the Chiefs. Kansas City has four quarterbacks already on their offseason roster, including seventh-round rookie Garrett Nussmeier.
Patrick Mahomes, Justin Fields and Chris Oladokun are Kansas City’s other three signal-callers.
Kurt Warner’s Career After Being an Undrafted Free Agent
It’s well documented that Warner is one of the best undrafted free agents in NFL history.
Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. During training camp that summer, he tried out for the Green Bay Packers. He spent the summer in Green Bay, but the Packers had Brett Favre, Mark Brunell and Ty Detmer at the time, so Warner failed to make the regular season roster.
At that time, as the legendary tale goes, Warner began stocking shelves at a grocery store in Cedar Falls at night while continuing to train during the day to prepare for another NFL tryout.
After an arena league football stint, Warner signed with the Rams in December 1997. During 1998, he served as QB3 for the Rams before then becoming the team’s backup in 1999.
An ACL injury to quarterback Trent Green made Warner the Rams starter to begin 1999.
The rest is history. Warner won league MVP in his first season and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. Warner captured another MVP award in 2001 and won the NFC championship game two more times.
It would be incredible if the fairy tale undrafted free agency tale struck twice in the same family. But that’s what E.J. is trying to make happen beginning this spring.
Rams QB Legend Kurt Warner’s Son Gets Another Minicamp Tryout: Report