Hall of Fame running back Edgerrin James wants to break into media.
The former Miami Hurricanes great has experimented recently, taking guest spots on Fox NFL Kickoff and Fox NFL Sunday earlier this season, and popping up on various podcasts here and there. Now, according to a recent report by Jason Jones in The Athletic, James is looking for a “permanent path” into media.
After his retirement from the NFL in 2011, James laid low, just as he did throughout much of his career. “Let Peyton (Manning) do all the interviews,” he recalled to The Athletic when discussing his career alongside the Hall of Fame quarterback in Indianapolis. But after giving his own Hall of Fame speech in August 2021, James landed on people’s radars as someone who could excel in media.
“I was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t really into that thing,'” James said afterwards. “I’m just living life, having fun.”
Fast-forward a few years, and James is warming up to the idea. When he retired 15 years ago, James still had several young kids to take care of at home. Now, those kids have either graduated college or are currently enrolled, opening up his schedule to more media appearances.
“I’m in a space where I don’t have to worry about going to kids’ practices or going to anything that’s related to my children,” James told The Athletic. “I’m like, ‘You know what? I can actually help a lot of people.’ So, I look at it in that sense, not just getting out of talking about (football), but actually having a purpose behind it.”
According to the report, James has “no interest” in covering games from the booth. Instead, he wants to breakdown film and pass that knowledge on to the current crop of NFL, college, and high school players watching the broadcast. That’s a skill set best suited for studio work.
“It’s like a mentorship to where you’re actually guiding people from a personal experience of you giving advice or giving information versus actually going out there coaching,” James said. “I think that’s what TV allows. It’s kind of like a visual mentorship where you can give insight. You can actually help a lot of these young kids in a different way because you’re always trying to reach back and give informational insight.”
James has reportedly reached out to the likes of Manning, Nate Burleson and CBS, and Charles Woodson at Fox for advice about breaking into TV.
Although he doesn’t have a full-time gig now, his former teammates believe he’d be a perfect fit for broadcasting.
“When Edge is going about anything or saying anything, he’s authentic about it,” Michael Irvin, who has held any number of TV jobs in his post-playing career, said about James. “That’s what (media) has turned into. That’s what it always should have been.”
“I think a lot of people that didn’t know him (before his Hall of Fame speech) hopefully realized that this guy is clever, he’s well-spoken, and he’s gonna give you something different,” Manning said. “He’s not just going to give you the standard clichés, which anybody can give. I think that’s going to make him unique.”
While waiting 15 years between playing football and talking about football on TV isn’t the conventional route most former players take into broadcasting, Edgerrin James might prove that it can be done. So long as you provide a unique perspective, which James certainly appears to have.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.