David Dorsey

Fort Myers News-Press

The name Edgerrin James will be in front of 46 Pro Football Hall of Fame voters on the eve of Super Bowl Sunday.

James has made the list of 15 Hall of Fame finalists for the first time in his second year of eligibility. Only up to five of the candidates can be enshrined this summer in Canton, Ohio.

Those 15 names will be whittled first to 10, then to the final five candidates on Saturday, Feb. 5, at the committee’s meeting in San Francisco, site of Super Bowl 50. Of the final five, modern era candidates, only those receiving at least 80 percent of the vote will be enshrined.

“You know, you appreciate it,” James said of being named a finalist. “You understand the significance of it. You’ve got to get in the room. You’ve got to get in the room before you can get in there.”

Even as a NFL rookie running back with the Indianapolis Colts in 1999, James said he had a goal of reaching the Hall of Fame.

“It was one of the things on my list,” said James, 37. “It was always a dream. You wanted to be among the greats. You wanted to do what it takes.”

James, the father of six, moved his family from Naples to Orlando last year. He ranks 11th all-time in NFL rushing with 12,246 yards over 11 seasons, spanning 1999-2009 with the Colts, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks.

James said one of those five spots this year was sure to go to former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

“One’s gone,” James said. “So really you’re only talking about four. As a running back, I did my part. I did what I was supposed to. My yardage speaks for itself.

“Everything I did, I did at a high level. You can’t dispute those facts. Last year, you saw Jerome Bettis get in. I have more total yards than Jerome Bettis.”

Bettis, the former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, finished his NFL career with 15,111 total yards to the 15,510 gained by James.

“Jerome is a good friend of mine, and I was happy to see him get in,” James said. “So I’m in the ballpark. It’s just a matter of how they go about it.”

On the day before the Super Bowl, each candidate gets discussed. Usually the beat writer who covered each candidate’s primary team pleads their cases, then the 46 committee members vote.

James never won a Super Bowl, but Colts owner Jim Irsay gave James a Super Bowl ring after the team won the title, a fact Chappell planned to mention to the committee. James then helped Kurt Warner lead the Cardinals to a Super Bowl in the 2007 season but lost to the Steelers.

James, the No. 4 pick in the 1999 NFL Draft out of the University of Miami, led the NFL in rushing as a rookie with 1,553 yards. He led the league again in 2000 with a career-best 1,709 rushing yards, only to tear a knee ligament six games into his third season in 2001.

But James rehabilitated the knee and continued producing big numbers for the Colts, rushing for two of those 1,500-yard seasons after the injury.

Nine of the 10 running backs ahead of James on the career rushing list already have been inducted, minus only former San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson, who becomes eligible next year.

John Riggins, O.J. Simpson, Joe Perry, Earl Campbell, Jim Taylor, Larry Csonka and Leroy Kelly are other running backs in the Hall of Fame who rank behind James on the all-time rushing list.

Stephen Holder, Colts beat writer for the IndyStar but not a committee member, said James should get in this year but probably won't.

“I think the presence of Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, among others on those Colts teams, works against Edgerrin,” Holder said. “It shouldn’t, but I believe there’s a perception that others on those teams rode Manning’s coattails, even though it’s hardly true,” Holder said. “I think that had as much to do with Harrison not getting in last year as a first-ballot candidate as anything else. The other issue at work here, at least this year, is Harrison. He’s got a good chance to get in this year. Whether they’d grant a spot for two Colts in the same year is something I’m not so sure about.”

James has heard all of those debate points. He said he ignored them.

“The thing is, the things that aren’t in my control, I don’t worry about. I don’t worry about those types of things,” James said. “I’m just a kid from the ‘I,’ doing what it takes.”