When NFL players are done with their football careers, the hope is that they’ve done enough to warrant Pro Football Hall of Fame recognition.
Every player who enters the league as a bright eyed and bushy tailed rookie wants to ultimately have their bust on display in Canton and wear that legendary gold jacket.
But to get there you must be what they call the “crème de la crème” of your position. And accumulating accolades also goes a long way in helping one’s cause for induction.
Former Jacksonville Jaguars tailback Fred Taylor, believes he did enough in his 13-year NFL career to warrant a gold jacket. With only 371 players enshrined in Canton, it’s not easy to get the “Call to the Hall,” but Taylor who’s one of the co-host and founders of the hit podcast, “The Pivot,” thinks he should be in.
During a recent interview Taylor was asked about his Hall of Fame worthiness, he didn’t hold back.
“My numbers were better than the majority of the backs that had ever played this game,” Taylor said. “Obviously if you’re not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, then you got to kind of hit the campaign trail and kind of try to make certain arguments for yourself. But guys have made the arguments for me, players that are in the Hall of Fame.”
Taylor Is 17th All-Time In Rushing Yards
From his first NFL carry where he took it the distance (72 yards) for a touchdown, Taylor showed why he was the ninth overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. For his career Taylor toted the mail for 11,695 yards and 66 rushing touchdowns. In fact, he’s only one of three backs in league history to average at least 4.6 yards per carry on at 2,500 carries, the others are former Detroit Lions legend Barry Sanders, and Minnesota Vikings legend Adrian Peterson who joined the group in 2017.
Taylor is the Jaguars all-time leader in rushing yards, rushing attempts, consecutive 100-yard games (nine in 2000), and most rushing yards in a single game with (234).
But those numbers haven’t been good enough to get Taylor beyond the semifinalist level of the Hall of Fame votes. This despite Hall of a Fame selection committee members somewhat vouching for him.
“When you look at Fred’s resume and what he’s done, I truly think his case should be heard by the selectors,” said Charean Williams, one of the 50 members of the Hall of Fame selection committee.
For Taylor “getting in the room” so-to-speak is what he’s aiming for.
Taylor Lacks Accolades Needed For The Hall of Fame
While, Taylor’s nearly 12,000 career rushing yards are over 4,000 more than that of former Denver Broncos legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis, who finished with just over 7,600 career rushing yards in his career. But Davis also cleaned up in the awards department winning a league MVP, and Super Bowl MVP. He also won multiple Offensive Player of the Year awards, was named First-team All-Pro three times, a three-time Pro Bowler, one-time rushing leader, and twice the rushing touchdowns leader. And for good measure he has two Super Bowl rings.
For Taylor the accolades just didn’t come his way despite the yardage accrued. In his career Taylor was only named an All-Pro and Pro Bowler once. That’s a big reason why he’ll probably never make it into Canton. Taylor also had 66 career rushing touchdowns in 13 seasons, while Davis had 60 in just seven seasons.
Take 2005 NFL MVP Shaun Alexander who rushed for 9,453 yards in his career it touched paydirt 100 times. He also has one OPOY award, three Pro Bowl and two All-Pro selections in nine seasons, and he’s not in either. While there are others like Corey Dillon, Ricky Watters, Eddie George and Priest Holmes who deserve consideration, their careers just like Fred Taylor don’t scream Hall of Fame worthy in the end.
Outside of Frank Gore who’s third all-time in rushing yards, Taylor has the most rushing yards for any running back not in Canton. And unfortunately, Gore probably won’t make it in either despite all the yardage.
