During the month of June, the Last Word On Sports NFL department will construct a Mount Rushmore for each team. For this series, we will only consider players. Today, the St. Louis Rams are the focus.
St. Louis Rams Mount Rushmore
Deacon Jones
This list would be laughable without Deacon Jones, who is one of the greatest pass rushers in NFL history. Jones was the most talented member of the “Fearsome Foursome” and although sacks were not an official statistic during the years he played, he is unofficially credited with 173.5 sacks over his 14-year career. That total would be good enough for third on the all-time sack list. He played with the Rams during 11 of his 14 seasons in the NFL and he was an eight-time Pro Bowler. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980, he is a member of the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame, and his number 75 is retired. While Merlin Olsen is also deserving of a spot on this Mount Rushmore, I decided to only include one member of the Fearsome Foursome.
Kurt Warner
Although Kurt Warner only played the first half of his career in St. Louis, he led the Rams to their only Super Bowl championship in 2000. The leader of “The Greatest Show on Turf” was a Hall of Fame finalist in 2015 and will be inducted sometime soon. His rags-to-riches story as a cashier in a supermarket to an NFL legend is also quite the tale. Warner was a four-time Pro Bowler and his greatest year came during the regular season of the Super Bowl winning season, where he threw for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdowns and only 13 interceptions. He is one of the greatest undrafted players of all-time.
Marshall Faulk
I had trouble choosing between Marshall Faulk and Eric Dickerson, but I ultimately settled on Faulk because he played more than half of his career with the Rams (Dickerson didn’t), he won a Super Bowl with the Rams (Dickerson didn’t), and he was a better all-purpose running back. While Marshall Faulk’s 12,279 career rushing yards (10th all-time) and 100 career rushing touchdowns (7th all-time) are impressive totals, his 6,875 career receiving yards (most by a running back) and 36 career receiving touchdowns (second most by a running back) are perhaps even more impressive. Faulk was a seven-time Pro Bowler and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. He is a member of the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame and his number 28 is retired.
Jackie Slater
While legendary offensive linemen are often ignored because of the position they play, Jackie Slater deserves this recognition. He played with the Rams for a remarkable 20 seasons, which still stands as a franchise record today. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler and he paved the way for seven different 1,000-yard rushers. During his entire career, he somehow only surrendered 29 sacks. He won the Ed Block Courage Award in 1992 and he won the Daniel F. Reeves Memorial Award in 1992, which is awarded to the Rams most valuable player as determined by the players and coaches. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001, he is a member of the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame, and his number 78 is retired.
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