Nicknamed “Eight Ball” while wearing the No. 8 jersey and rolling over opposing defenses, Jesse Chatman was a first team NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (then I-AA) All-America running back in 2001 when he rushed for more than 2,000 yards for Eastern. Chatman led FCS in rushing with 2,096 yards as a junior in 2001, then elected to skip his senior season to pursue his NFL dreams and eventually played in 58 regular season games in seven seasons in the National Football League, primarily for San Diego (2002-2004) and the Miami Dolphins (2005, 2007). Chatman rushed for 951 yards (4.5 per carry) and four touchdowns, and caught 39 passes for 281 yards. On special teams, he returned eight kickoffs for an
18.9 average and had 38 total tackles.
Highlighting an epic 2001 campaign at EWU, Chatman finished fourth in 2001 in the voting for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in FCS, and he was selected by the Football Gazette as its FCS Offensive Back of the Year. He broke five Big Sky Conference records and 19 school marks during his three seasons as an Eagle, and was the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2001. His All-America honors in 2001 included first team honors from Associated Press, Sports Network and the Football Gazette, as well as honorable mention from the Football Gazette in 2000. He earned unanimous first team All-Big Sky honors in 2001, second team in 2000 and honorable mention in 1999. Four times he was selected as the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week in his career, and twice he earned national player of the week honors. Chatman was selected by the Eastern Athletic Department to the “100 for 100” All-Time Football Team, which was honored on Sept. 27, 2008, to commemorate Eastern’s 100th year of football. A public vote selected him as the top running back in school history.
At the time, his 2,096 rushing yards in 2001 (190.6 per game) ranked as the fourth-highest in FCS history (now seventh entering 2025 season). That mark remains a school record, and was and is No. 2 in league history (entering 2025). He led the nation in rushing by 340 yards and was the Big Sky leader by 510. He had five games in 2001 with at least 200 rushing yards and 10 with at least 100 yards rushing, and set EWU game records of 298 yards (versus Sacramento State), six touchdowns (Cal State Northridge) and 38 points (CSN). He helped EWU lead the nation in total offense (514.5) and scoring (41.9) per game.
Chatman finished his career with school records of 4,173 rushing yards, 53 touchdowns and 322 total points. His rushing total remains a school record and ninth in Big Sky history, and his touchdowns and point totals are now third all-time at Eastern (entering the 2025 season). He averaged 15.63 points per game in 2001 and 10.38 in his career. Coupled with 424 receiving yards in 2001, his total all-purpose yards (2,520) and average per game (229.1) are also both still all-time bests in Big Sky and EWU history (entering 2025).
In all, he played 31 career games and averaged 6.7 yards per carry (7.4 in 2001), 134.6 yards per game (fifth in Big Sky history entering 2024), and had 48 touchdowns, plus added 61 receptions for 614 yards and five touchdowns. That gave him 4,173 all-purpose yards in his career (154.5) per game and 53 touchdowns with 322 total points. He had 21 performances of at least 100 and seven with at least 200.
Chatman graduated in 1998 from Franklin High School in Seattle, Wash., then sat out at EWU in the fall of 1998 before playing three seasons at EWU from 1999-01.
More on Chatman’s NFL Career . . .
In 2002, Chatman earned a roster position with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent after leading the NFL in rushing during the preseason with 234 yards on 46 carries and a 5.1 average per carry. He eventually played in 41 regular season NFL games in three seasons with San Diego after impressive performances in the preseason. In the 2003 preseason, his best performance was 114 yards – his first 100-yard performance as a pro – in a home win over San Francisco the night before Eastern played at San Diego State in the same stadium. In the regular season in 2004, he rushed for 392 yards and scored three touchdowns as an injury replacement to All-Pro LaDainian Tomlinson. He scored his first career touchdown against Tennessee to preserve a 38-17 victory, then he had his first 100-yard game with 103 yards on 11 carries versus Jacksonville. Against Carolina, he replaced Tomlinson in the fourth quarter and had a 52-yard run before scoring on a 5-yard run for the decisive points in a 17-6 win. Injuries caused him to start gaining weight when he played for San Diego, and subsequently he was released. He spent time in the 2005 season with both the New Orleans Saints and the Dolphins, but did not play in 2005 and 2006.
Sports Illustrated reported that he ballooned to a high of 283 pounds before diet and exercise helped him lose the weight. Chatman started working out at all hours, and switched from fried food to oatmeal, spinach and stir-fry. The Dolphins originally re-signed Chatman on Feb. 21, 2007, and allocated him to NFL Europa, where he did not make it past the final cuts. But that summer, with his weight at 223 pounds, he earned a Miami roster spot in the 2007 preseason when he had a team-leading 116 rushing yards (6.4 per carry) with two touchdowns, and added six receptions for 52 yards. He was listed in the “Who’s Hot” section in the Aug. 20, 2007, issue of
Sports Illustrated. Here’s what the magazine had to say about Chatman:
Running back Jesse Chatman gained 392 yards (on just 65 carries) for the Chargers in 2004. Then he gained 50 pounds and missed two seasons. Now looking svelte in a Dolphins uni, he broke off a 74-yard TD run last Saturday. Chatman: “I’m not going to take this for granted.”
A full-page spread in the Oct. 1, 2007, issue of
Sports Illustrated explained how he lost the 60 pounds and worked himself back into the league as a regular season starter. He finished the season with 515 yards, including a career-best 124 yards on 27 carries on Nov. 11 in a 13-10 loss to Buffalo when he also caught five passes for 25 more yards. He made his first NFL start on Oct. 28, 2007, in a 13-10 loss to the New York Giants in the first-ever NFL regular season game at Wembley Stadium in London. He finished with 79 yards on 16 carries (4.9 per carry), and had three catches for 21 yards. After the 2007 season, Chatman signed a contract with the New York Jets on March 10, 2008. He finished the year with five carries for eight yards and two receptions or five yards.
