Stock Watch: Will James fit in Seattle?

ProFootballTalk.com reports free agent Edgerrin James has signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks. The Associated Press reported Seattle would not address the "speculation" until Tuesday.

That won't stop us from speculating on what James could do for an anemic Seattle ground game that ranked 19th in the league last season. The Seahawks are full of uninspring fantasy options at the position.

Julius Jones is one of the lowest-ranked "starters" in our RB rankings at No. 32. TD vulture T.J. Duckett (No. 53) isn't an every-down back, and reserves Justin Forsett and Devin Moore just won't cut it.

Enter James, who turned 31 on Aug. 1 and is coming off a season in which he rushed for a career-low 514 yards and three TDs. James is noticeably absent from our RB rankings at the moment, but if the deal goes through he has a shot to be the starter in Seattle.

Why? Well, reasons we already mentioned. That is Jones, Duckett, Forsett and Moore simply aren't that good.

James' legs aren't anywhere near what they used to be. He's not going to give you 1,000 yards or be anything close to the back he was with Indianapolis from 1999-2005. It doesn't take a Molecular Biology major to figure that out.

Edge, however, showed a little bit of burst in the Cardinals' playoff run last season, rushing for 236 yards and 2 TDs. Not that it's a relevant calculation, but put that over 16 games and you 944 yards and 8 TDs.

Again, James isn't going to do that. But he would be going up against the fifth easiest fantasy schedule in the league, and he'd probably be juiced up to face his former teammates in Arizona. There's a couple weeks of flex play in there for the taking, which makes him worthy of a bench spot. You've been drafting Jones, Duckett and in some cases, Forsett, right?

Of course, James has to sign first. And win the job. And prove that his 31-year-old legs aren't made of rubber. It's a lot to ask for.



(sportingnews.com)