Is Curtis Martin a Hall of Fame RB?

ESPN reports that Curtis Martin will retire this week. With his career complete, we can look at his numbers and consider his Hall of Fame status.

Curtis Martin's statistics at pro-football-reference.com

Martin's 14,101 rushing yards put him 4th all-time, and his 17,430 yards from scrimmage rank him 7th all-time. That makes for a very good career of compiling numbers. But compiled numbers based on longevity are one thing; I prefer to look at a player's career season to season.

Curtis Martin had 10 seasons with 1,000 yards rushing. 9 of those seasons were over 1,100 yards, and 7 of of those seasons were over 1,200 yards. So it appears Martin was also able to compile successful seasons throughout his career, too.

Now, was Martin dominant?

He won one rushing title, was second in the NFL in rushing two other seasons, and was in the top-10 seven times.

And let's look at his best seasons.

1994: 1,487 yards, 4.0 average, 14 TDs
1999: 1,464 yards, 4.0 average, 5 TDs
2001: 1,513 yards, 4.5 average, 10 TDs
2004: 1,697 yards, 4.6 average, 12 TDs

It appears at his best, Martin was able to be a dominant RB, too.

Curtis Martin compiled great cumulative numbers. He compiles several very good seasons. And he had a few dominant seasons.

Curtis Martin is a Hall of Fame RB.