Well over a day after word broke of veteran tailback Edgerrin James’ one-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks, the Seattle Seahawks finally have announced that Edgerrin James has signed a one-year deal.
Given the decision to dump T.J. Duckett, James will serve as the backup to Julius Jones.
Jones says he’s unfazed by the move, since James replaces Duckett in the second position on the depth chart.
But maybe Jones should be a little worried.
The Seahawks have made a bold move three weeks after camp opened, and it likely was a necessary one. Through two preseason games, the Seahawks are averaging fewer than three yards per rushing attempt.
And it’s possible that the Seahawks didn’t just decide on Monday to do something about their tailback position. As Todd Wright of Sporting News Radio pointed out during our weekly Tuesday night segment on his show, the acquisition of James seems to give implicit confirmation to rumors that the Jets called an NFC West team about a possible trade of Thomas Jones, who also happens to be the big brother of Julius Jones.
Julius has a new big brother now. The fact that he and James are represented by the same agent, Drew Rosenhaus, might help smooth things over (even though Edgerrin arrives with a base salary of $2 million, $50,000 more than the $1.95 million Jones will earn).
If Edgerrin should begin to eat into Jones’ touches, it might be hard to maintain harmony.
The Seahawks likely don’t care if feathers are ruffled, so long as the running game gets rolling. At a minimum, James likely will push Jones better than Duckett ever did.
And if James pushes hard enough, Edgerrin could end up becoming the starter.
