It was a normal Saturday morning, April 17, 1999. Like most football fans I was sitting in
front of the TV watching the NFL draft. I’d only been a fan of the NFL for
several years, but I knew this was a very important draft for my team. See, the
Indianapolis Colts were coming off a 3-13 season, the rookie campaign of the
previous year’s No. 1 overall pick Peyton Manning. They had their franchise QB
in place. Now they were looking for the running back to go along with him.
It’s not like they didn’t already have one though. I
remember many being shocked when just a few days before the draft they decided
to deal future Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk. It’s never been made
entirely clear why the Colts made the move, but the general consensus is that
Faulk wanted more money that the team wasn’t willing to pay him, and they were
afraid his attitude could negatively affect the young nucleus. Plus with the
fourth pick in the draft, the hole at running back could easily be filled
It was disappointing at first, but all hope wasn’t lost.
Manning’s future running mate seemed likely to be on the board when Commissioner
Paul Tagliabue announced the Colts on the clock. It seemed a foregone
conclusion that Indianapolis would draft Heisman winner and (at the time) NCAA
career rushing leader Ricky Williams out of Texas.
Sure enough the top three picks fell into place. Cleveland
took a quarterback, Philadelphia took a quarterback and Cincinnati took a
quarterback. And there was Williams, ready to go from being a Longhorn to a
Colt.
But it didn’t happen.
You all know what happened. Colts GM Bill Polian opted to
take a running back from Miami named Edgerrin James instead of the proven
commodity. I’ll never forget my brother, the biggest Colts fan I know, collapsing
on the floor and laying face down with his face buried in his arms for at least
15 minutes. The only words he spoke during that time were when his phone rang.
“Hello,” he muttered. “Yeah… I know.” And then he hung up.
Nearly 13 and half years later James will return to
Indianapolis this Sunday to be inducted into the Colts’ Ring of Honor at Lucas
Oil Stadium. James will be just the eighth name to join the Ring since it’s
inception at the RCA Dome in 1996. This Colts fan couldn’t be prouder.
Sure, I could hold my brother’s reaction to the selection of
Edge over his head, but the reality is that outside of the Colts brain trust, I
doubt anyone thought they made the right move that day. What they ended up accomplishing was avoiding
a career-long headache in Ricky Williams while stumbling into a future Hall of
Famer.
That’s right, I said Hall of Famer, and I’ll get to those
credentials in a moment, but first I have to say how ironic it is that Edge
will be going into the Ring this season. While many around the organization
don’t want to say it, the Colts are in a bit of a rebuilding mode. Hell, one of
the marketing phrases that have gone around this new era (meaning new GM Ryan
Grigson and new head coach Chuck Pagano, not necessarily Andrew Luck, though
it’s hard not to consider him the “face” of the new era) is “Build the
Monster.” The irony of Edge’s induction to me is that he was one of many that
helped build the previous “monster” that ruled in Indy. As a matter of
fact, Manning, Edge and Marvin Harrison
were known by fans as the three-headed monster. I had trouble finding evidence
of this, but I specifically remember posters being made of the three of them
that said “three-headed monster.” (Though I did find this)
Regardless, no one can deny that, while Manning received
most of the notoriety, Harrison and James were also pretty big part of creating
a football juggernaut in Indianapolis. That makes it even more disappointing to
me that Edge never fully got his due from the casual fan.
See, while fans grow attached to teams, the players that
stand out in their memories are typically the ones that were involved in a
championship. Unfortunately for Edge, he wasn’t around by the time the Colts
reached the Lombardi trophy.
The Colts got the ultimate prize at the end of the 2006
season, but it was the previous year that stands out the most to me. I still
believe the ’05 Colts were the best team of the Peyton Manning era. It was the
one season when our defense finally came close to catching up with our offense.
Sports Illustrated even did a feature on
it.The team started 14-0 and coasted to the No. 1 seed before getting clobbered
by a hungry Pittsburgh defense in the playoffs. I didn’t realize it at the
time, but that loss to the Steelers was Edge’s last game in a Colts uniform.
That offseason came with Edge and No. 2 receiver Reggie
Wayne hitting free agency. Every Colts fan knew we couldn’t afford to keep both
of them. I hate to admit this now, because Reggie is one of my all-time favorites,
but at the time I was hopeful that we’d keep Edge. It made sense to me only
because we already had Marvin Harrison out wide, and I assumed that with
Peyton, and receiver could come in and succeed. While that second assumption
may have been true, ultimately the Colts chose to cut ties with Edge and keep
the younger receiver.
The decision proved to be a wise one, especially now
considering Wayne is a veteran and one of the Colts true leaders during this
rebuilding process. Edge went on to have two quality seasons in Arizona before
facing an injury-plagued third season and moving on for a one-year swan song in
Seattle.
But the end of Edge’s career should have no bearing on Hall
of Fame status. It started his rookie season when Edge took the league rushing
title with 1,553 yards, the ninth rookie ever to accomplish that feat, a feat
which hasn’t been done since then. The best season of Edge’s career came in
year two when he ran for 1709 yards, winning a second rushing title. He added 63 receptions and amassed a league
leading 2303 yards from scrimmage, the ninth highest total in NFL history.
Edge battled injuries the next three seasons, but still
reached the 1000 yard plateau five more times in his career, including
resurgences in 2004 and 2005 when he rushed for 1548 and 1506 yards.
But all of these numbers mean little until you put them in
context of other Hall of Fame running backs.
- Edge is 11th on the league rushing list with 12,246 yards, more than Hall of Famers Marcus Allen, Franco Harris, Thurman Thomas, John Riggins and O.J. Simpson. Jerome Bettis is sixth and is the only non-Hall of Famer ahead of James.
- He is 13th all-time in yards from scrimmage with 15,610, over 200 yards more the Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson. Only three players in front of him on the list are NOT Hall of Famers: No. 5 LaDainian Tomlinson, No. 11 Terrell Owens and No. 12 Tiki Barber.
- His 80 touchdowns rank 18th in league history.
- Edge averaged 82.7 rushing yards per game, good for 13th all-time and slightly better than Earl Campbell and Emmitt Smith.
It’s hard to say Edge is a lock for the Hall of Fame, but
considering he played in an era where passing became more and more prevalent
and he still was able to put up numbers in the top 15 in the history of the
league is pretty impressive.
Three years ago, Edge made his first trip to Lucas Oil
Stadium and his last trip to Indianapolis as a player, playing for the Seattle
Seahawks. He didn’t play a lot during the game, but he had a few carries. At
the third quarter came close to ending the PA announcer said something about
staying tuned at the end of the quarter for a special presentation. At that, I
had no idea what was about to happen.
When the quarter closed, a video montage popped up on the
big screen showing highlights of Edge’s career. I’d be lying if I said a few
tears didn’t well up in my eyes.
This Sunday, Edge comes back to Indy, and I’m glad to have a
reason to pull out my No. 32 jersey at least one more time. More importantly,
I’m glad Edge will be there to see the new “monster” of Indy its infancy.
Thanks for the memories, Edge. And here’s hoping that there are more winning
Colts memories to come in the not-so-distant future.
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