The Rams have had a rich history of running backs, including the likes of Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson.

The former St. Louis Ram, Jackson, is the all-time Rams rushing leader. Does he deserve to have this number retired like his fellow legend running backs Dickerson and Faulk?

Let the great debate begin.

I believe his number should indeed be retired. The man dubbed as “S-Jax” is known as a franchise player and a true teammate. He got along with everyone and continued trucking through defenses with no help around him. Some can argue that Jackson had to do more than most other backs. The reason for that was simply due to the fact that the Rams offense during his tenure wasn’t great. In fact, opposing defenses typically knew the Rams were going to be running the ball frequently, an and would wind up stacking the box.

Unfortunately, we still see the infamous No. 39 of Jackson around Rams camp (possibly due to Jackson still being in the league). Currently, former UDFA Malcolm Brown is rocking the No. 39 jersey. It’s probably a tough pill for some fans to swallow when they see the number of a player who not only was the all-time Rams rushing leader, but also gave them eight-straight seasons of over 1,000 yards rushing. Obviously, that’s no ill-will at all towards Brown though.

Jackson left the Rams in what seemed a mutual decision by both parties. To sum up exactly the type of situation that Jackson faced during his time in St. Louis, he played there from 2004 through the 2012 season. During that nine-year stretch, the Rams never had a single season where they were better than .500. Actually, they hit that 8-8 mark just two times, and the rest of the years all featured seven wins or fewer.

The 32-year-old has a very, very impressive personal resume with the Rams, even if the team was unable to translate that into victories. Unfortunately, it looks as though Jackson’s career could be finished after a quick playoff stint with the New England Patriots came to an end in 2015.

The question is, will Jackson retire a Ram? If he does, will that be the first step towards getting his number retired? Time will tell, but Jackson should indeed be the last man to wear that infamous No. 39.