It's official at last
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/23/2007
It was almost a foregone conclusion last year, when he underwent additional knee surgery and informed the Rams he would not play in 2006, that Marshall Faulk had played his final football game in the NFL.
Next week it will become official. Faulk plans to announce his retirement Monday at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix, where he will be working as an analyst for the NFL Network.
"He's one of the greatest players of all time and clearly a future Hall of Famer," Rams president John Shaw said Thursday. "He was one of the key ingredients that took our team from a team that won four games (in 1998) to a Super Bowl champion."
Faulk, who turned 34 last month, had been coy in various interviews this offseason about the possibility of returning to the NFL in 2007. But multiple knee surgeries over the course of his 12 NFL playing seasons have taken their toll, and Faulk finally decided to call it a career.
"It has been an honor and a pleasure to play in the National Football League," Faulk said in a statement. "I'd like to thank all my teammates and coaches with whom I've been associated with ... as well as the fans who supported me throughout the years."
The Rams were very patient with Faulk over the course of this process. Instead of releasing him or forcing him into retirement, the club paid him a $1 million salary in 2006. In addition, the club is believed to have paid him a $225,000 roster bonus due earlier this month.
"It was the view of our owners, and clearly the whole front office, that what he brought to us was something that was really unique," Shaw said. "And something that St. Louis has never had before in football — a world championship. He had the type of stature and significance that we felt he deserved the leeway to make the decision on his own terms."
On the football field, the Rams moved on last season, with
Steven Jackson taking over in the backfield and earning his first Pro Bowl berth.
During a career that included five seasons with Indianapolis, Faulk established himself as one of the greatest running backs in league history.
"You've got to take it a step further," former Rams coach Mike Martz said Thursday. "I think he's got to be one of the best overall football players in the history of the game. In the 80 years or so of the game, you've got to put him in that group, regardless of position."
In St. Louis, Faulk was the centerpiece of the Greatest Show on Turf, leading the high-scoring Rams of Dick Vermeil, and then Martz, to Super Bowls following the 1999 and '01 seasons. With Faulk, Isaac Bruce,
Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim and two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner, the Rams simply had too many options for most defenses to handle.
"He will forever go down in my mind as the greatest player I have ever seen play," Warner said. "Not only because of his gifted physical ability, but also because of his dedication to and knowledge of every area of the game."
Faulk leaves the game ranking ninth on the NFL's career list for rushing yards (12,279), fourth in touchdowns (136) and fourth in yards from scrimmage (19,154).
Acquired in a 1999 trade with the Colts for second- and fifth-round draft picks, Faulk compiled three straight seasons of 2,000-plus yards from scrimmage with the Rams, earning NFL most valuable player honors in 2000. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler and was named the NFL's offensive player of the year for three consecutive seasons (1999-01).