06-08-2023, 01:57 AM
Calrac, this one’s for you baby!
I can’t be the only one that looks at the all time rushing list and think “man…if Taylor could have atleast half of those games back.”
Just like Jimmy Smith, I wanted to make the playing field even and see just how Fred Taylor would measure against the best 17 NFL rushers of all time. The only way I can do that is to go back and add up his totals from his healthy years and compare it to the other NFL running back legends.
Guys like Barry Sanders, Walter Peyton, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, etc.
Did you know Fred Taylor was the 15th all time leading rusher in yards at the end of the 2009 season? Yes. He was right behind Thurman Thomas.
Taylor had a rookie season for the ages if we’re comparing in to the other top 17 RB’s.
Of the 55 regular season games he missed due to injury, there is one season that I wish he could have back, and that’s the 2001 season where he missed 14 games. He was going into his 4th season, and we all know what happen against the Titans when he threw the ball to the ground. Taylor ended up with 116 yards that season. But he also missed 6 games in that magical 1999 season.
If it wasn’t for the 6 games he missed in 1999 and the 14 games he missed in 2001, he would have had 10 straight 1,000 yard seasons….just like Jimmy Smith would have if he didn’t get suspended in 2003 when he was 195 yards short of becoming a 10 straight 1k season WR.
Those 2 season (1999 and 2001) will haunt Taylor until he gets his gold jacket which will probably be in about 10-12 years if I had to guess. Why 10-12? I can’t answer that, it’s just a guess and it could be twice that long. It’s much easier to vote Taylor in the Hall of Fame with 10 straight years of 1000 yards than those 2 blemishes on his current resume.
Injuries are apart of the game. Guys like Adrian Peterson who tore his knee up and came back and rushed for 2,000 yards. What happens if his knee never got injured? Does he rush for 2300 that year? We’ll never know, but it’s part of the game. Part of being great for a long period of time is can the body hold up, while still being productive.
Taylor dealt with a brutal groin injury that could have ended his career, but it didn’t.
Let’s take a look at at all the top 17 Running Backs from the age 26 to 31 = 6 seasons.
I will post the running backs name and then post the yardage they put up from the age 26 to 31.
Here we go…
Marcus Allen. - 3606
Jim Brown - 5849
Adrian Petrson- 5965
Ederrin James - 6074
Jerome Bettis. -6166
Franco Harris. - 6334
ThurmanThomas-6576
Marshal Faulk. -6667
Fred Taylor. - 7245
Eric Dickerson - 7292
Tony Dorsett. - 7393
La. Tomlinson - 7505
* Fred Taylor - 7603 (if he don’t miss 5 games 2005 season)
Emmitt Smith - 7983
Walter Peyton - 7993
Curtis Martin - 8280
Barry Sanders - 8480
Now let’s take a look at the NFL’s top 17 rushers and see what their age 31 season looks like. I’ll post the name and then post their yardage from that season.
Curtis Martin age 31 season. - 1697
Walter Peyton age 31 season - 1684
Tony Dorsett age 31 season. - 1307
Emmitt Smith age 31 season - 1203
Fred Taylor age 31 season. - 1202
Frank Gore age 31 season. -1106
Franco Harris age 31 season. - 987
Tomlinson age 31 season. - 914
Jerome Bettis age 31 season. - 811
Marshall Faulk age 31 season - 774
Thurman Thomas age 31 season-643
Eric Dickerson age 31 season. - 536
Marcus Allen age 31 season. - 287
Edgerin James age 31 season. - 125
Adrian Peterson age 31 seaaon - 72
Jim Brown age 31 season. -0
Barry Sanders age 31 season. - 0
Now let’s take a look at their rookie seasons. Again this only includes the top 17 all time leading rushing yard leaders. Here is the total Touchdowns scored as a rookie.
Thomas - 2
Gore. - 3
Bettis. -7
Peyton. - 7
Tomlins - 10
Brown. - 10
Smith. - 11
Harris. - 11
Faulk. - 12
Petersn- 13
Dorsett - 13
Sanders - 14
Allen - 14
Martin - 15
James - 17
TAYLOR - 17
Dickerson - 20
* only Eric Dickerson scored more touchdowns as a rookie.
I’ve already posted this before, so I won’t go into detail but Fred Taylor should have made the pro bowl in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2007
Taylor probably gets selected as an All Pro in 1998 if he started 15 or more games as he scored 17 TDs that season and led the league in plays of 50 yards or more. He would have finished his career with 4 Pro Bowls and 1 All Pro.
Did you know Marcus Allen, who is ranked 14th on the all time rushing list, only had 3 seasons in which he had 1,000 yards rushing? Other than those 3 seasons, his highest rushing output was 890 yards. Allen played 16 seasons in the NFL. His resume is worst than Frank Gore’s.
Did you know Faulk retired at the age of 32?
Jim Brown retired at the age of 29 years old. He was out of the league by the age of 30.
Did you know Tony Dorsett made a pro bowl while rushing for 745 yards that season?
As we all know, Fred was in the best RB era of all time. He contended with guys like Larry Johnson, Priest Holmes, Jerome Bettis, Tomlinson, Eddie George, Jamal Lewis, Edgerin James, Willie Parker, Terrel Davis, Corey Dillon, Curtis Martin, Mike Anderson, etc.
It’s not that these cats were better than Taylor, but he would put together a solid season and a guy like Mike Anderson would come out of nowhere and rush for 1500 yards.
In 2001, the year Fred missed 15 games, the NFL’s leading rusher that year was Stephen Davis with 1432 yards. Corey Dillon was 2nd with 1315 yards. I have no doubt in my mind that Fred would have lead the league in yards that season if he doesn’t get injured. His timing was just off every season there was someone stepping up or he would go down with an injury and miss a handful of games.
If he just had about 25 of those games back, he would probably already have his gold jacket.
Taylors last 100 yard game came in week 3 of the 2009 season against the Falcons. That same season he scored 4 TDs, after scoring 1 TD in his final season with the Jaguars.
I won’t ever forget the game against the Dolphins in the ‘99 playoffs…he had 135 with 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter…he already walked em down with 2 tubs including a 90 yarder which is still an NFL playoff record. I also won’t ever forget that masterpiece he put together against the Patriots in our first ever home playoff game in 1998. 162 yards and a tub. The Mike Doss look back is what only a legend could do. It was like he had electricity in his shoulder pads when he hit the boom stick on that dude.
How about that Tampa Bay game when the rookie from Florida rushed for 3 touchdowns and hit that game winner and slid down the goal post in the endzone.
A lot of people know about the 234 yards and 4 Touchdowns up in Pittsburgh, but a lot of people don’t know Fred put up 194 yards against the Saints because of the River City Relay. Taylor almost hit 200 yards that game which would have been his 2nd. What’s crazy is Jimmy Smith put up 220 yards against the Saints in 1999, I remember skipping High School the following day because it was a Sunday Night game and Taylor was inactive that game.
One last thing I will add, is Taylor’s resume says he rushed for 11,695 yards…if he could have just 5 games back in that 2002 season, he would have finished with an additional 350-400 yards to add to his totals. His resume would then say he’s rushed for 12,045 yards…it would look a heck of a lot better for his cause. Who would have thought 5 games at the age of 29 would hold so much weight? Don’t worry, it won’t keep him out of the hall, he will just have to take the back roads and the scenic route, but he’ll make it. Fred Taylor is already a Hall of Famer, he just hasn’t been indicted yet, but he will…
I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I might do one of these for Tony Brackens in a few weeks. These things are exhausting and take a ton of time. You guys let me know if you like these Jaguars history stuff and I’ll keep ‘em up.
I can’t be the only one that looks at the all time rushing list and think “man…if Taylor could have atleast half of those games back.”
Just like Jimmy Smith, I wanted to make the playing field even and see just how Fred Taylor would measure against the best 17 NFL rushers of all time. The only way I can do that is to go back and add up his totals from his healthy years and compare it to the other NFL running back legends.
Guys like Barry Sanders, Walter Peyton, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, etc.
Did you know Fred Taylor was the 15th all time leading rusher in yards at the end of the 2009 season? Yes. He was right behind Thurman Thomas.
Taylor had a rookie season for the ages if we’re comparing in to the other top 17 RB’s.
Of the 55 regular season games he missed due to injury, there is one season that I wish he could have back, and that’s the 2001 season where he missed 14 games. He was going into his 4th season, and we all know what happen against the Titans when he threw the ball to the ground. Taylor ended up with 116 yards that season. But he also missed 6 games in that magical 1999 season.
If it wasn’t for the 6 games he missed in 1999 and the 14 games he missed in 2001, he would have had 10 straight 1,000 yard seasons….just like Jimmy Smith would have if he didn’t get suspended in 2003 when he was 195 yards short of becoming a 10 straight 1k season WR.
Those 2 season (1999 and 2001) will haunt Taylor until he gets his gold jacket which will probably be in about 10-12 years if I had to guess. Why 10-12? I can’t answer that, it’s just a guess and it could be twice that long. It’s much easier to vote Taylor in the Hall of Fame with 10 straight years of 1000 yards than those 2 blemishes on his current resume.
Injuries are apart of the game. Guys like Adrian Peterson who tore his knee up and came back and rushed for 2,000 yards. What happens if his knee never got injured? Does he rush for 2300 that year? We’ll never know, but it’s part of the game. Part of being great for a long period of time is can the body hold up, while still being productive.
Taylor dealt with a brutal groin injury that could have ended his career, but it didn’t.
Let’s take a look at at all the top 17 Running Backs from the age 26 to 31 = 6 seasons.
I will post the running backs name and then post the yardage they put up from the age 26 to 31.
Here we go…
Marcus Allen. - 3606
Jim Brown - 5849
Adrian Petrson- 5965
Ederrin James - 6074
Jerome Bettis. -6166
Franco Harris. - 6334
ThurmanThomas-6576
Marshal Faulk. -6667
Fred Taylor. - 7245
Eric Dickerson - 7292
Tony Dorsett. - 7393
La. Tomlinson - 7505
* Fred Taylor - 7603 (if he don’t miss 5 games 2005 season)
Emmitt Smith - 7983
Walter Peyton - 7993
Curtis Martin - 8280
Barry Sanders - 8480
Now let’s take a look at the NFL’s top 17 rushers and see what their age 31 season looks like. I’ll post the name and then post their yardage from that season.
Curtis Martin age 31 season. - 1697
Walter Peyton age 31 season - 1684
Tony Dorsett age 31 season. - 1307
Emmitt Smith age 31 season - 1203
Fred Taylor age 31 season. - 1202
Frank Gore age 31 season. -1106
Franco Harris age 31 season. - 987
Tomlinson age 31 season. - 914
Jerome Bettis age 31 season. - 811
Marshall Faulk age 31 season - 774
Thurman Thomas age 31 season-643
Eric Dickerson age 31 season. - 536
Marcus Allen age 31 season. - 287
Edgerin James age 31 season. - 125
Adrian Peterson age 31 seaaon - 72
Jim Brown age 31 season. -0
Barry Sanders age 31 season. - 0
Now let’s take a look at their rookie seasons. Again this only includes the top 17 all time leading rushing yard leaders. Here is the total Touchdowns scored as a rookie.
Thomas - 2
Gore. - 3
Bettis. -7
Peyton. - 7
Tomlins - 10
Brown. - 10
Smith. - 11
Harris. - 11
Faulk. - 12
Petersn- 13
Dorsett - 13
Sanders - 14
Allen - 14
Martin - 15
James - 17
TAYLOR - 17
Dickerson - 20
* only Eric Dickerson scored more touchdowns as a rookie.
I’ve already posted this before, so I won’t go into detail but Fred Taylor should have made the pro bowl in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2007
Taylor probably gets selected as an All Pro in 1998 if he started 15 or more games as he scored 17 TDs that season and led the league in plays of 50 yards or more. He would have finished his career with 4 Pro Bowls and 1 All Pro.
Did you know Marcus Allen, who is ranked 14th on the all time rushing list, only had 3 seasons in which he had 1,000 yards rushing? Other than those 3 seasons, his highest rushing output was 890 yards. Allen played 16 seasons in the NFL. His resume is worst than Frank Gore’s.
Did you know Faulk retired at the age of 32?
Jim Brown retired at the age of 29 years old. He was out of the league by the age of 30.
Did you know Tony Dorsett made a pro bowl while rushing for 745 yards that season?
As we all know, Fred was in the best RB era of all time. He contended with guys like Larry Johnson, Priest Holmes, Jerome Bettis, Tomlinson, Eddie George, Jamal Lewis, Edgerin James, Willie Parker, Terrel Davis, Corey Dillon, Curtis Martin, Mike Anderson, etc.
It’s not that these cats were better than Taylor, but he would put together a solid season and a guy like Mike Anderson would come out of nowhere and rush for 1500 yards.
In 2001, the year Fred missed 15 games, the NFL’s leading rusher that year was Stephen Davis with 1432 yards. Corey Dillon was 2nd with 1315 yards. I have no doubt in my mind that Fred would have lead the league in yards that season if he doesn’t get injured. His timing was just off every season there was someone stepping up or he would go down with an injury and miss a handful of games.
If he just had about 25 of those games back, he would probably already have his gold jacket.
Taylors last 100 yard game came in week 3 of the 2009 season against the Falcons. That same season he scored 4 TDs, after scoring 1 TD in his final season with the Jaguars.
I won’t ever forget the game against the Dolphins in the ‘99 playoffs…he had 135 with 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter…he already walked em down with 2 tubs including a 90 yarder which is still an NFL playoff record. I also won’t ever forget that masterpiece he put together against the Patriots in our first ever home playoff game in 1998. 162 yards and a tub. The Mike Doss look back is what only a legend could do. It was like he had electricity in his shoulder pads when he hit the boom stick on that dude.
How about that Tampa Bay game when the rookie from Florida rushed for 3 touchdowns and hit that game winner and slid down the goal post in the endzone.
A lot of people know about the 234 yards and 4 Touchdowns up in Pittsburgh, but a lot of people don’t know Fred put up 194 yards against the Saints because of the River City Relay. Taylor almost hit 200 yards that game which would have been his 2nd. What’s crazy is Jimmy Smith put up 220 yards against the Saints in 1999, I remember skipping High School the following day because it was a Sunday Night game and Taylor was inactive that game.
One last thing I will add, is Taylor’s resume says he rushed for 11,695 yards…if he could have just 5 games back in that 2002 season, he would have finished with an additional 350-400 yards to add to his totals. His resume would then say he’s rushed for 12,045 yards…it would look a heck of a lot better for his cause. Who would have thought 5 games at the age of 29 would hold so much weight? Don’t worry, it won’t keep him out of the hall, he will just have to take the back roads and the scenic route, but he’ll make it. Fred Taylor is already a Hall of Famer, he just hasn’t been indicted yet, but he will…
I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I might do one of these for Tony Brackens in a few weeks. These things are exhausting and take a ton of time. You guys let me know if you like these Jaguars history stuff and I’ll keep ‘em up.