Arizona's James aiming to be one of game's best

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Quick question: Edgerrin James ... Hall of Fame running back?

You're skeptical. So am I. Then I look at the guy's record, and I wonder how you can keep him out, and I'm not sure you can.

Edgerrin James' statistics should land him in Canton. (AP)

It's not that James ranks 13th among the all-time rushers; it's that when this season is over he should have passed Franco Harris, Marcus Allen and Jim Brown to move to seventh on the list. Plus, it's not a stretch to think he can make it into the top five before he's finished.

"No, I will crack the top five before it's all over," James said.

So what? So everyone in the top 10 career rushers is either on his way to the Hall of Fame or already there. The top 10 backs not in Canton are Jerome Bettis, Curtis Martin and Marshall Faulk, and all are virtual slam dunks.

James thinks he can be, too, and he makes a compelling argument.

"I want to be one of the best ever to play the game, and I'm doing everything you can possibly do to put myself in that situation," he said. "That's all I can do: Take care of my end, and that's what I've been doing my entire career -- taking the good with the bad and making sure I'm doing exactly what it takes to make sure that when that time does come (he's up for Hall of Fame consideration) and you look at it as a no-brainer."

The knock on James now is that he's wearing out; that he can't run away from defenders; that he's lost at least a step and that he might have no more than one year of good, solid football left.

Yeah? Well, it happens. He's 30, and at 30 running backs tend to slow down.

Only James isn't convinced that happens to him. He visits each year with Martin, and the former New York Jets star keeps telling James that anything's possible -- no matter what age James is. Martin is the proof, having won a rushing title at 31.

But while James seems to be slowing down -- his yards per carry the past two seasons dropped to 3.4 and 3.8 -- he still cranks out the 1,000-yard seasons. In fact, his 1,222 last year put him seventh in the league.

"I asked (Martin), 'Did you start feeling any different (at 30)?," said James, "and he said, 'Honestly, I started feeling better.' He knew the things he could do, and he knew the things it took to prepare himself for playing.

"If you do it right in your 30s you should be running fast and doing everything the right way because you know what it takes; you know what your body needs."