Slater Wants to Return, If the Rams Will Have Him

Jackie Slater didn’t spend 16 years of his life wrestling with 300-pound defensive linemen so he could walk away from the game with cleat marks on his psyche. The seven-time Pro Bowl player might have decided to spend the fall of ’92 pass-blocking his sons on the lawn of his home in Orange, but the Rams’ pratfall in 1991 is driving the 37-year-old tackle back to the playing field.

A 10-game losing streak can make a guy want to feel what it’s like to win again.

“I’ve pretty much decided to try and play another year,” he said Thursday, “and hopefully it will be (with the Rams).

“I was sitting home watching Atlanta being defeated by Washington in the playoffs and I thought to myself, ‘(Atlanta) is a team we used to beat handily year after year, and all of sudden they’re beating us twice in the same year by the same score (31-14),’ which was an embarrassing score in my opinion.

“It just lit a fire under me. I guess I was already leaning toward coming back, but seeing that game and realizing what I had experienced the last couple of years, well, I think I want it all to end up on a better note than that.”

Slater, who played his first two years in the league under Chuck Knox in 1976 and ‘77, says he’s excited about the possibility of a reunion. He has yet to discuss the future with Knox but hopes to meet with him soon.

Slater completed the second year of a two-year, $1.6-million contract last season. It seems likely the Rams would be willing to discuss a one-year deal with their longtime team captain, but that decision will be left up to Knox. The first indication of the Rams’ interest in Slater will come no later than Feb. 1, when they must submit their list of protected players for Plan B.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Chuck yet and I can’t say that I’m going to play again without him deciding if he wants me on his football team,” Slater said. “So the first thing to do is sit down and talk.

“But I’ve been with this organization for 16 years and I like to think they’ve been positive years. And I like to think that I’ve carried my weight. I would also like to think they would consider me a person who has a positive effect on this football team. But it’s out of my control.”

No one would question that Slater has been a positive force. The question is how much he can help the Rams rebound from last year’s 3-13 disaster. Age, of course, is a primary factor, but Slater’s performance in ’91 was generally considered one of the season’s few bright spots.

“I feel really good about the way I played last year,” he said. “It was a very productive year for me personally. I made this long list about the pros and cons of coming back another year and that was one of the top things on the list.

“I’ve never wanted to be a guy who’s just hanging on. But as I analyze the way I played, I feel I played as well as anybody in the game, regardless of age. And I feel like I made a positive contribution to the football team.”

Slater may not be as quick as he was when Knox drafted him out of Jackson State on the third round in 1976, but he’s a lot more polished.

“Obviously, he’ll be dealing with a player who’s a bit older,” Slater said, laughing. “He’ll look at the film and come to his own conclusions about how I’ve changed, but the one thing I remember about myself in ’76 and ’77 was that I was just learning to become a pro.

“Right now, I am a pro. I know what it takes in my area of expertise to be successful. I know the price that has to be paid.”