| 26 August 2009
Art Thiel has an interesting, though gloomy, read in the PI this morning. Calling Edgerrin James the "tattered life ring for a sinking Seahawks offense" (no, really, that's the headline), Thiel goes on to make comparisons of Edgerrin James to both Franco Harris and Ricky Watters, though much more the former than the latter.
Franco Harris, for those not fully versed in Seahawks bad-signing nostalgia, was signed early on in 1984 season after Curt Warner went down in the week one. Harris was signed some some ado, being a future hall-of-famer will do that to ya, and hit the field walking. Slowly. He started six games at fullback and had 170 yards.
Ricky Watters is a more favorable comparison, though it is framed in the context of the Curse of 30 for running backs. Watters lasted to 32, but it didn't help that he was supplanted by the greatest rusher in Seahawks history. Thiel skipped that part.
However, Edgerrin James is neither one of these guys. He isn't meant to be a star on this team; he isn't being brought in with much pomp and circumstance (it took 36 hours for the Hawks to even acknowledge him!). James is a compelling backup running back, with a storied history of starting, and more experience in the zone blocking system than almost any other running back in the league. The teams that use the ZBS (Denver, Houston, Green Bay, Oakland, Indianapolis, Washington) generally view running backs as more disposable pieces, they let them succeed then send them off to pasture. Clinton Portis is the big exception from those teams over the last 5 years, but before him was Edgerrin James.
More than that however, Edgerrin James is an excellent (and willing) pass blocker. This has been mentioned before, but it bears repeating -- especially since Thiel overlooked it. James was brought in, not, as Thiel contends, because Drew Rosenhaus parked himself on Ruskell's sofa and "convinced" him that we needed James (are you kidding me?). He was brought in because he is a more reliable backup than Duckett, and a much better pass blocker.
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