The Los Angeles Rams legacy spans three states and is one of the longest in professional football. The franchise was founded in Cleveland, Ohio back in 1936, in the short-lived second American Football League, before joining the National Football League the following year. Nine years later in 1946, the original Ohio team moved to Los Angeles where it stayed through the end of the 1994 season. The franchise then moved to St. Louis in 1995 and won a Super Bowl in 1999, before moving back to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 2016 season.
Top Three Rams Players
If you were taking bets at an online casino the smart money would be bet on the following ten players making the top three list.
- Aaron Donald
- Deacon Jones
- Dick Lane
- Eric Dickerson
- Isaac Bruce
- Jack Youngblood
- Jackie Slater
- Kurt Warner
- Merlin Olsen
- Torry Holt
#3 Kurt Warner
Kurt Warner’s path to the NFL started with two seasons of play in the indoor Arena Football League and one in NFL Europe. In 1998, Warner signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Rams but played in just one game that season.
Warner took over as starting quarterback in 1999 when Trent Green suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason. Warner passed for 4,353 yards that season and a league-leading 41 touchdowns. He won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player that year, as the Rams scored 526 points, went 13-3, and beat the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV. In that game, Warner set a Super Bowl record with 414 passing in leading the Rams to their first Super Bowl title.
Warner would win his second league MVP award two years later when he guided the Rams back to the Super Bowl. His season totals that year included a league-leading and career-high 4,830 passing yards and 36 touchdowns. He would be named first-team All-Pro twice and was selected to four Pro Bowls. Warner finished his career with 32,344 career yards and 208 touchdowns for the Rams and Arizona Cardinals.
#2 David “Deacon” Jones
“Deacon” Jones was a 14th-round draft selection by the Los Angeles Rams in the 1961 draft out of Mississippi Vocational. A converted tackle blessed with speed, agility, and quickness, the 6-4, 272-pound Jones blossomed into a superb defensive end.
Jones won all-league honors six straight years beginning in 1965 through 1970. He was selected as the top defensive player in the NFL in 1967 and 1968, played in seven straight Pro Bowls (eight in total) while teaming with tackle Merlin Olsen giving Los Angeles a perennial All-Pro left side of the defensive line.
The durable and dedicated Jones missed just five games of a possible 196 regular-season encounters in 14 NFL campaigns and was inducted to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1980.
#1: Eric Dickerson
A two-time All-America at Southern Methodist University, Eric Dickerson was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. In his first season with the team, Dickerson established rookie records for most rushing yards gained (1,808), most touchdowns rushing (18), and most rushing attempts (390), earning him All-Pro, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Pro-Bowl honors.
In his sophomore season with the Rams, Dickerson rushed for 2,105 total yards breaking OL.J. Simpson’s 1973 record of 2,003 single-season rushing yards. During that same season, Dickerson rushed for more than 100 yards twelve times, breaking Simpson’s record of ten 100-yard games in a single season.
Prior to the 1987 season, Dickerson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts where he continued to see success. Dickerson was the seventh running back to gain more than 10,000 yards and reached that plateau in just 91 games.
During his 11-year career, Dickerson gained a total of 13,259 rushing yards, second all-time at the time of his retirement. Dickerson was a six-time Pro Bowl selection and was enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
