St. Louis’ Offer to Faulk Reportedly Is $45 Million

The St. Louis Rams have reportedly offered holdout running back Marshall Faulk a seven-year contract worth $45 million.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday cited two sources familiar with negotiations in its report. Faulk was acquired from the Indianapolis Colts in April.

The Rams are said to have offered $19 million over the first four years, with a $7-million signing bonus. Faulk could earn $26 million over the final three years.

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In need of help on the defensive line, the Dallas Cowboys signed troubled veteran Alonzo Spellman to a one-year contract.

Spellman, who suffers from bipolar disorder, had been out of football since the Chicago Bears released him in June 1998 after several bizarre episodes.

His condition is treatable by medication but can lead to manic behavior if he doesn’t take his pills.

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The Arizona Cardinals signed second-round draft pick Johnny Rutledge to a four-year contract for a little more than $2 million, but the team’s top pick, David Boston, was frustrated in his attempts to reach a deal in time to join the team when camp opens today at Flagstaff, Ariz. . . . Free-agent defensive tackle Rhett Hall told the Philadelphia Eagles that he will sit out the season and might retire because his ailing left knee hasn’t responded to rehab. . . . As the Cincinnati Bengals prepared to open camp at Georgetown, Ky., receiver Carl Pickens was back in Atlanta, working out and hoping for a trade. If none materializes, Pickens will retire rather than play for the Bengals, his agent reiterated. . . . Rookie Robert Daniel of the Carolina Panthers will sit out the season after an examination revealed a fractured disc in his neck.