10 Best NFL Players Not in the Hall of Fame
Edgerrin James, Running Back
The case for former Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James is much more controversial than it should be.
“Edge” has the stigma of being a “Peyton Manning” back – the idea that he had less defensive attention on him and could rack up stats easier. Pat Newell and Jim Ayello of IndyStar.com wrote about this, saying: “No team[s] with a running back the caliber of James relied less statistically on the running game…. James' teams ran the ball seven percent less often than the league average when comparing run-to-pass ratios.”
That said, James dominated the backfield touches in his career, with his 23.39 touches per game second-most among running backs in the top-100 of PFR AV.
When we look past the stigma and just examine the stats, James was one of just eight running backs to top 3,000 carries in a career and sustain a yards per attempt above 4.00, and his 2.64 percent rushing touchdown rate isn’t an inflated mark at all. By numberFire’s analytics, James’s 2004 season earned 29.30 Rushing NEP and 27.84 Reception NEP (the 31st-most valuable running back season all-time). For his career, he earned 0.05 Total NEP per opportunity on average – about Melvin Gordon's 2017 production – every year for 11 years.
James was a versatile and valuable running back – one of just seven in NFL history to top 3,000 rushing attempts and 400 receptions, and grading out extremely well in pass protection to boot. No matter who his teammates were, James and his 136 AV deserve canonization in Canton.
