Curtis Martin

It doesn’t make much sense, but somehow the 5-11, 205-pound Martin at age 31 and with a whopping 2,927 career carries coming into the season had the best year of his Hall-of-Fame career. Martin not only carried the ball a career-high 371 times, but he averaged more yards per carry (4.6) than ever before. And he scored 14 touchdowns to boot, including a respectable eight in 18 tries from inside the five yard line (fifth best out of 14 players with 15 chances or more). Finally, Martin fumbled just twice, neither of which was lost. And despite his modest stature, Martin is incredibly durable, missing only four games due to injury in his career, and none since 1998. Naturally, Martin has lost some of the quickness and burst he had earlier in his career – his longest run from scrimmage was just 25 yards – but he’s still able to hit holes effectively and make cutbacks when lanes open. Martin is also an effective pass catcher, nabbing 40 or more receptions for the ninth consecutive season. Now that Lamont Jordan is gone, Martin isn’t as likely to be spelled at the goal line (which he was in 2003) because, unlike Jordan, his current backup, Derrick Blaylock, is even smaller than Martin. As a result, Martin should continue to get the bulk of the important touches in what should be an improved Jets attack with Laveranues Coles back in the fold and Chad Pennington presumably healthy. Of course, if you’re into worrying about workload, only Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Jerome Bettis have had more carries, so you’re in largely uncharted waters here.

Now 9-for-9 in 1,000-yard seasons, the future Hall of Famer is sanctified in NFL circles but is merely fantasy flotsam. Lamont Jordan would almost certainly be more productive. Alas, Jets fans may never find out, as Jordan is approaching free agency and Martin’s a cap albatross.

Martin had just 1,456 total yards last year, tying for his least productive season, but he still got into the end zone seven times and kept his fantasy owners fairly happy. Some people expected Martin to lose goal-line carries to LaMont Jordan during the year, but No. 28 still got the nod more often than not, outscoring Jordan 7 to 3. Bottom line, Martin's days as a premier back might be gone for good, but he's clearly got enough in the tank to be a solid No. 2 back for anyone's fantasy club. With Chad Pennington quarterbacking the Jets from Day 1 this year, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Martin tack on two to four more touchdowns for 2003.