Will Edgerrin James hear his name called for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

There was no press conference or no breaking news updates from national media outlets when Immokalee native Edgerrin James announced his retirement from the National Football League.

Just as he conducted himself on and off the field for the better part of his football career, James’ retirement was quiet but effective.

“I’m done playing football,” James told a small group of reporters at his annual youth football camp in Immokalee on July 25.

Unlike fellow Southwest Florida native Deion Sanders, who is officially being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, James, who turned 33 on Aug. 1, plans to spend his post-football career in relative anonymity. The question now is whether or not Hall of Fame voters will remember Edgerrin in 2015 when he’s eligible to earn a spot in Canton.

Since James was not with a team in 2010 -- he last played with Seattle, which released James in the middle of the 2009 season -- James has to wait four years, instead of the usual five.

“I don’t know if he’s a Hall of Fame player, but he deserves to be in the room when we debate the final 15 guys each year,” said Mike Chappell, a Hall of Fame voter and the longtime Indianapolis Colts beat writer for the Indianapolis Star. “I think he had that kind of career and he deserves at the very least to be considered.”

Just based on statistics alone, James’ candidacy is hard to argue. The No. 4 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft out of the University of Miami finished his career with 12,246 rushing yards, which ranks 11th in NFL history. James accomplished most of that with the Indianapolis Colts from 1999-2005. He also played for the Arizona Cardinals from 2006-08, becoming the first Collier County high school player to participate in a Super Bowl when Arizona lost to Pittsburgh, 27-23, in Tampa in February 2009.

James left Indianapolis as its all-time leading rusher with 9,226 yards. James was given a Super Bowl ring from the Colts after he left the team in 2006, when they won Super Bowl XLI.

James also was the AP and Pro Football Writers Association Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1999, and a four-time Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection.

Besides New York Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who currently ranks sixth all-time in rushing, the only active running backs within 2,000 yards of James on the all-time list are Fred Taylor and Tiki Barber. Taylor is on the verge of retirement, and Barber has come out of retirement after four years away from the game, but has yet to sign with a team.

Only two of the nine Hall of Fame eligible players above James on the all-time rushing list, Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin, have not yet been inducted. However, both players were just in their first year of Hall of Fame eligibility.

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(naplesnews.com)