Indianapolis Colts: 30 greatest players in franchise history

People tend to mark Edgerrin James as the Colts’ top running back of all-time, but that’s recency bias. We’ll talk about the top back further on down the list. Still, Edge was quite the impressive playmaker during his seven years in Indianapolis.

I think that’s part of my problem, though. James only played for the Colts for seven seasons, spending most of that time riding the coattails of Manning. That’s not necessarily to say he wouldn’t have been successful without the legendary gunslinger, but his presence absolutely boosted James’ production.

Still, with that said, James did some serious damage on the stat sheet. He’s the owner of four of the Colts’ five best rushing seasons, including a career-high 1,709 yards during his sophomore campaign. Although there were a few down years in the middle of his tenure with Indianapolis, he bookended his time with the team with four total Pro Bowl appearances.

Don’t get me wrong — James was a star in his own right. However, it seems that in general, he’s overrated a bit. His legacy will never die, although it may have been bigger had he stuck around one more year to see the Colts win a Super Bowl in 2006.