ST. LOUIS, MO – The St. Louis Rams will retire No. 75, the number of Hall of Fame defensive end David “Deacon” Jones during the team’s regular season home opening game vs. Green Bay on Sunday, Sept. 27, the team announced today.  Jones played for the Rams from 1961-71.

Jones, who coined the term “sack the quarterback,” was nicknamed the Secretary of Defense and was widely considered as one of the greatest defensive players to play the game.  He recorded a team-best 159.5 sacks with the Rams and 173.5 for his career.    He registered 21 sacks during the 1967 season, and reached double-digit sack totals seven times, including three 20-sack seasons.

Jones became the first defensive lineman to record 100 solo tackles in a single season (1967) and was voted the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year twice (1967, 1968).  Jones was voted to the Pro Bowl nine times, including seven straight with the Rams (1964-70).  He was voted to the NFL’s all-Decade team in the 1960s and was selected to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary team in 1994.

For most of the 1960s, Jones, along with Hall of Fame defensive end Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier, made up the Fearsome Foursome, considered one of the best defensive lines in NFL history.

Jones was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.