Curtis charting a course past a Panther in '05
Following is a timeline of major events in Curtis Martin's NFL career:
April 22, 1995: Selected by New England in the third round (74th overall) of the 1995 draft.
March 25, 1998: Became a Jet when the Patriots declined to match a restricted free agency offer sheet from Bill Parcells. The Jets sent the Pats first- and third-round draft choices in exchange.
Sept. 6, 1998:Played in his first game as a Jet, rushing for 58 yards on 22 carries in the season-opening 36-30 overtime loss at San Francisco.
Jan. 10, 1999:Touched the ball 42 times (36 rushes, six receptions), then an NFL postseason record, gained 182 yards and scored two touchdowns in the 34-24 win over Jacksonville, the Jets' first home playoff game in 12 years.
Dec. 3, 2000: Had 152 rushing yards at halftime and finished with a personal-best and franchise-record 203 yards in a 27-17 win over Indianapolis.
Jan. 6, 2002: Came up 43 yards short of winning his first NFL rushing title, running for 50 yards at Oakland to finished with 1,513 yards while Kansas City's Priest Holmes simultaneously was gaining 117 yards at Seattle to win the title with 1,555 yards.
Dec. 8, 2002: Became the 16th player in league history to reach 10,000 career rushing yards in the first quarter of the 19-13 home win over Denver.
Dec. 22, 2002: Kept his streak of 1,000-yard seasons from the start of his career alive at eight with 106 yards in the Sunday night Game 15 30-17 win at New England. It was Martin's toughest road to 1,000, since he was playing on two high-ankle sprains, the first suffered in the opener at Buffalo and the other in Game 7 vs. Cleveland.
Sept. 19, 2004: Took over the Jets' all-time rushing lead from Freeman McNeil (8,074 yards) with his first carry at San Diego, an 11-yard run.
Oct. 3, 2004: Became the 11th player in NFL history to reach 15,000 career yards from scrimmage and also moved into the Top 10 in career rushing yardage in the 17-9 win at Miami.
Jan. 2, 2005: Rushed for 153 yards in the 2004 regular-season finale at St. Louis to finish with 1,697 yards, setting the Jets' single-season record and a personal best. Ultimately Martin won his only NFL rushing title — and at 31 became the oldest player to win a rushing title — when, later in the day, Seattle's Shaun Alexander gained 80 yards vs. Atlanta and fell a yard short of Martin in the closest rushing title finish in league history.
Sept. 18, 2005: Suffered torn cartilage in his right knee when he was accidentally kicked by Miami linebacker Zach Thomas in the Jets' Game 2 17-7 win over the Dolphins. The injury was aggravated two weeks later at Baltimore.
Nov. 6, 2005: Became the 16th player in NFL history to score his 100th career touchdown. It came against San Diego, appropriately on a 1-yard run — Martin is tied with Brad Baxter for the most 1-yard TD runs in franchise history, 21.
Dec. 14, 2005: Had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to remove cartilage, leaving the knee effectively bone-on-bone, and other debris.
July 27, 2006: Was placed on the Jets' Active/Physically Unable to Perform list at the start of training camp, marking the first time he would miss the start of training camp in his 12-year NFL career.
Nov. 1, 2006: Announced he would not attempt to practice or play this year and was placed on the Jets' Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list for the rest of the season.
July 26, 2007: Announced his retirement from the Jets and football.
