This Day in St. Louis Sports History: April 15
April 15, 1999: St. Louis Rams acquire running back Marshall Faulk from Indianapolis Colts
On this day 16 years ago, the St. Louis Rams traded their second round and fifth round picks in the 1999 NFL Draft for running back Marshall Faulk. It was somewhat of an odd move for the Colts, as Faulk was coming off a very successful Pro Bowl season in which he ran for 1,319 yards on 253 attempts and caught 86 passes for 908 yards, making him the NFL’s leader in yards from scrimmage.
Though the Rams did give up the pick that was used to select linebacker Mike Peterson, who had a very good 14-year NFL career, it’s very difficult to argue that the move to acquire Faulk wasn’t the greatest transaction in the history of the St. Louis Rams franchise. Faulk was arguably the most important player on the 1999 “Greatest Show on Turf” team, which to this day is the only team in the history of the franchise to win a Super Bowl. He had arguably the greatest season of his career in ’99, rushing for 1,381 yards on 253 carries while catching 87 passes for 1,048 yards. He had 12 touchdowns throughout the regular season, and according to Pro Football Reference‘s “approximate value” grading system, Faulk was the most valuable player in the NFL during 1999.
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A season later, he would go on to have another spectacular campaign and score 26 total touchdowns (18 rushing, 8 receiving) which at the time set the all-time record for touchdowns in a single season. After five more seasons in St. Louis, Faulk ended his Rams career with a total of 11,030 yards and 85 touchdowns from scrimmage. That made him an easy candidate for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot, and Faulk was the first “Greatest Show on Turf” player to gain admittance into the Hall in 2011.