LA Rams’ rafters: Why are those jersey numbers retired?

Game changer on and off the football field

LA Rams defensive end Deacon Jones played the game with such a violent intensity that he once described his approach to the game thusly:

"“I made up my mind that I wasn’t taking any prisoners and the wounded would be shot.”-Rams defensive lineman Deacon Jones"

As a 14th-round pick out of Mississippi Vocational College (The college has since been renamed as Mississippi Valley State University), he is the only 14th round pick in NFL history to ever make the Hall of Fame.

He was part of what fellow Hall of Famer middle linebacker Dick Butkus called the greatest defensive line in NFL history known as the “Fearsome Foursome,” which consisted of Deacon Jones, Rosey Grier, Lamar Lundy, and Merlin Olsen. Legendary status in Rams lore.

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Roundly recognized for his dominance on the football field, in addition to his enshrinement in Canton, he was an eight-time Pro Bowler, five-time 1st team All-Pro, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and named to the NFL 100 All-Time Team.

You needed a wheelbarrow to haul all his trophies.

He was an intimidator of quarterbacks in an era when even the best quarterbacks attempted less than 400 passes in a year. He recorded 173.5 sacks in his career (third behind Reggie White and Bruce Smith). Sacks were not even officially recorded as a statistic in the NFL  until 1982.

It was Deacon Jones who changed all that. One other aspect of the game he changed was his signature move of the head slap upside the helmet of opposing offensive linemen. The move was so devastatingly effective for him that the move was outlawed by the NFL after his retirement. (Jones had studied Muhammad Ali’s hand speed and he realized that with his head slap he could make offensive linemen blink or hesitate. And that was all he needed to get around him and sack (or bag) the quarterback.

Jones had three seasons with 20-plus sacks including two 22 sack seasons and one 21.5 sack season. (And and they only played 14 game seasons back then, making him the most efficient pass rusher of all time)