TAMPA, Fla. -- The last time Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Kade Warner was at Raymond James Stadium, he was a 10-year-old anxiously watching his dad, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner and then-Arizona Cardinals quarterback, play in Super Bowl XLIII against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Fourteen years later, it was the elder Warner anxiously watching his son make his NFL preseason debut -- also against the Steelers -- the culmination of a dream for both.
Kurt tweeted: "Last [Super Bowl] I played in vs the Steelers at Buccaneers Stadium...today my son plays his first game for the Bucs vs Steelers in that same stadium. You can't make this stuff up...and I never thought I'd cheer for [Tampa Bay]. How quickly things change! #Proud Papa"
Last SB I played in vs @steelers in @Buccaneers stadium... today my son plays his 1st game for the Bucs Vs Steelers in that same stadium!!! You can't make this stuff up... & I never thought I'd cheer for TB, how quickly things change! #ProudPapa pic.twitter.com/Ogh2iFVCQL
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) August 11, 2023
An undrafted free agent wide receiver out of Kansas State, Kade has embraced a similar path to his father's, who went from stocking groceries at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Super Bowl XXXIV MVP and two-time league MVP with the St. Louis Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf."
"I was a walk-on and no one wanted me," Kade said in May. "Didn't have any offers. Went to Nebraska, they didn't want me. Went to Kansas State, took a couple years, finally got there, didn't get drafted. So it's been a lot of twists and turns and a lot of adversity, so to be here, to put on this jersey, to go out there and play football -- it's literally just a dream come true for me."