MACOMB, Ill., July 30 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Rams announced Monday that veteran running back Marshall Faulk, considered one of the premier players in the history of the National Football League, has agreed to a seven-year contract which will take him through the remainder of his playing career.
Terms of the megadeal were not made public.
"Marshall will go from the Rams to Canton," said Jay Zygmunt, Rams' President of Football Operations. He was referring to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio.
Faulk came to the Rams in a 1999 trade with the Indianapolis Colts for second and fifth-round draft choices. His arrival and the emergence of quarterback Kurt Warner helped awaken the Rams, who went from a 4-12 record in 1998 to a 13-3 record in '99 and the Super Bowl XXXIV championship.
Faulk, Warner, and the Rams' other offensive weapons have created a special blend in the offensive system devised by Coach Mike Martz.
In three seasons with the Rams, Faulk has scored a team-record 59 touchdowns in 44 regular-season games and gained 6,765 yards rushing and receiving. During his tenure with the Rams, Faulk has scored four touchdowns in a game four times, three touchdowns in a game four times, and two touchdowns in a game seven times.
"This is really exciting for all of us," Coach Mike Martz said after the team's Monday afternoon practice. "We want to make sure Marshall finishes his career as a Ram. The impact that he's had not just on this team but this entire organization and what it means to St. Louis is pretty extreme. This is extremely important. It's a big moment for all of us."
"It's just a good one," Faulk said about the deal. "If you look at it as a business or as a friendship, it was a merger between the Rams and myself. They were ready to make the next step, and so was I within my career and things just happened to work at the right time and we both helped each other tremendously. I'm just glad to be here."
He's also very happy about continuing his relationship with Martz.
"I couldn't imagine playing for anyone else," Faulk said Tuesday morning. "Mike, outside of just being a coach, is a friend. He's a guy that will pull you to the side and let you know exactly where you are with him, and I can do the same with him. It's really good to have someone like that in your corner when you're playing this game. It's just a cruel business. Sometimes, the guys in my situation don't get this opportunity. I'm one of the few and the lucky ones."
Faulk said he thinks the Rams will contnue their winning ways.
"I want to be here. I hope everybody else wants to be here (too) because it's fun, and it's exciting," he said. "Sometimes you like the guys that you play with, but I love the guys that I play with. It's a great feeling when you have that kind of respect and feelings that are mutual between you and your teammates and you just enjoy playing with each other."
The Rams, who open the regular season Sept. 8 at Denver, are favored to capture the NFC West again over the San Francisco 49ers.
