Edgerrin James helped show current RB Joseph Addai right NFL approach

Joseph Addai said he doesn't recall who reached out to who, exactly. A running back for the Indianapolis Colts, Addai remembers few details of precisely how he got to know Edgerrin James.

Addai said he just remembers one day admiring and respecting a player who preceded him in his position, a player who became an NFL star when Addai was a sophomore . . . in high school.

The next day, it seemed to Addai, they were communicating by text and speaking by telephone.

But Addai said that they communicated -- that James spent time in 2006 to speak with and counsel Addai during the latter's rookie season -- taught him a lot.

It taught him a lot about the NFL, and how a player should approach his place in it.

Addai said it taught him something else, too:

That respect Addai had given him all those years? As it turned out, James deserved every bit.

"This is the guy who they brought me in to try to replace and he's helping me out," Addai said Thursday.

Addai, a 1,000-rusher in 2006 and 2007 who is now in his fourth NFL season, spoke this week as the Colts prepared to play the Seattle Seahawks Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis. The game will be the first for James against the Colts since he left as a free agent in February 2006, his first time playing in front of fans who watched the No. 4 overall selection in the 1999 NFL Draft win two NFL rushing titles and make four Pro Bowls.

But around the Colts, James is about more than numbers. Colts President Bill Polian said this week he expects James will get a deserved ovation Sunday, and Colts QB Peyton Manning -- with whom James and Marvin Harrison formed the Colts' version of the Triplets  from 1999-2005 -- said this week the importance of James to the Colts' current run of success shouldn't be underestimated.

James, in a very real sense, remained a member of the Colts even after his departure. Colts Owner and Chief Executive Officer Jim Irsay awarded James a Super Bowl XLI ring even though James had left following the previous season, and Irsay has spoken fondly of James, who almost certainly will be placed in the team's Ring of Honor soon after his retirement.

One reason for the team's affectionate attitude toward James was the class and honesty with with James carried himself off the field, and it was that side of James Addai said he saw shortly upon being selected by the Colts in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft.

This was a little more than two months following James' departure, and Addai said James immediately took a mentoring role on the field and off.

"That speaks a lot about him," Addai said. "I still talk to him to this day. Having somebody like him who had been doing it well -- that means a lot."

Addai said he and James talked multiple times after he was drafted, then the two spent time together the following February as the Colts prepared to play the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI in James' native South Florida.

Addai recalls James saying during that time:

"Joe, if you're going to make a decision, run it across me first."

"Just little stuff like that -- not always about football . . . life," Addai said. "You have someone you can always go to -- it's good."

Addai said the two communicated shortly before the season, and that he was happy James signed with Seattle. Their relationship, he said, is an "ongoing thing" and one he said speaks to how veterans should approach yoing players in the NFL.

"The NFL is tough," Addai said. "You have to adjust to the lifestyle and when you have someone older who has been doing it, that helps out a lot. To have someone to say, 'This is what you should do; think about this; if you need advice, call me' . . . that feels good. I don't care how tough you are, or whatever, if you have an older guy help you out, it always makes things easier."

Asked if he was surprised James handled the situation as he did, Addai pointed to the nearby locker of RB Donald Brown, the Colts' first-round selection in the 2009 NFL Draft and a player with whom Addai is sharing carries this season.

"I wouldn't say surprised, because if I was in his (James') shoes, I'd do the same thing," Addai said. "But if we lookat society, when someone's taking someone's job, the other person doesn't like it. That's what society tells you, but me myself? I would do the same thing. Donald, he comes and asks me questions and I say, 'Look, ask them. I'm going to give it to you,' because regardless of jealously, at the end of the day, football is going to stop at some point in time. Life is going to keep going. Why mess a potential friend through football because you feel like, 'Oh, this is the person they're trying to bring in to take your job.' It shouldn't be that way. The ultimate goal is to win games.

"I'm the older guy, so I'm trying to help him out -- the same thing that Edge did for me, and the same thing (former Colts RB) Dom (Rhodes) did. It's likea chain. You have to do it.

"It wouldn't be right if I didn't do that."



(examiner.com)