Out of coaching for 14 years, fresh on the job for the St. Louis Rams, Dick Vermeil jumped right into the pool. Into the deep end, in fact.
“As soon as I got the job I contacted Bill (Parcells),” Vermeil said. “He didn’t want the No. 1 pick. And I said, ‘I do. What will it cost?’ “
That’s how it began, the pre-draft trade in 1997 with the New York Jets for the No. 1 overall pick and the chance to select mammoth offensive tackle Orlando Pace of Ohio State.
It’s a trade that over time has been overshadowed by the deal two years later that brought Marshall Faulk to St.