The early years of Faulk he was a talented player, but the results were more Tiki Barber / Warrick Dunn like. But when Martz got a hold of him and put him in position to use his talents, getting him out in space both as a runner and receiver, Faulk took off and he was so dominating from 1999-2001, going from a 4.0 Yards Per Carry Back to a 5.5 Yards per carry back. He was a touchdown machine where he didn't do as well near goaline earlier in his career and more than doubled his touchdowns. Some point to 1998 season for his total yardage, but that was more a volume of touches thing versus success per touch, when you look at his improvement with the yards per carry.
Martz had a history of getting more out of the talented player and Faulk went from a Border line Hall of Famer to a rock solid Hall of Famer because of how Martz put him in positions to be successful by generating space in the offense. It is exactly what was lacking last year with Gurley so I am hoping the same improvement happens with Gurley that happened with Faulk years ago.
As far as #3 playmaker of all-time. I think Faulk was a better overall player than Sanders from 1999-2001 but I could see if the context is who would make the big play as a given point of time, giving a slight edge to Sanders, but having Faulk #3 seems right to me.
On big play potential, I think Az Hakim was the biggest threat to go the distance even more than Faulk when given the ball in the open field with only a handful of tacklers out in space. His elusiveness was just unbelievable
