Fred Taylor a Hall-of-Fame Finalist for the Second Straight Year—Can He Win the Support of Voters?

By John Turney 

Art Credit: Michael Pattison

All-Pro teams traditionally have had two slots for running backs, though they expanded to three in the mid-1990s when a fullback was added. But now they're back to two again, with one more of a blocker, which means ...

You guessed it. They're really down to just one running back.

Yet, in most seasons, there are almost always more than two backs with All-Pro numbers, rushing for 1,200 or more yards or scoring 10 or more touchdowns. But they don't make All-Pro teams for a variety of reasons, sometimes because voters just weren't as familiar with them as they were with others.

One such back is Jaguars' Hall-of-Fame finalist Fred Taylor.

Playing in Jacksonville almost certainly affected how much notice Taylor received. A small-market team, the Jaguars were not often on national television and rarely seen in person by NFL beat writers. The result was that Taylor, one of the best running backs you'd hope to see, didn't gain the All-Pro attention he deserved. He was chosen to one All-Pro team (2007), and that was as a second-teamer.

But that doesn't mean he didn't have All-Pro years. He did. In fact, he had plenty of them, and the numbers prove it. The problem is that he doesn't have the All-Pro resume, one reason it took him eight years to become a Hall-of-Fame finalist in 2024. But at least he got there, and he's back again as one of 15 finalists for the Class of 2025.

Now the question: Will he be elected when the class is revealed? Probably not, but he might if voters paid attention to what former Pittsburgh defensive back Deshea Townsend -- a guy who faced Taylor 13 times --  had to say about him. 

"It's always more than (awards and championships)," Townsend said. "If you look at numbers, some guys might not be in (the Hall of Fame). (But when you ask) who is that guy that you can't plan for him? Did you worry about him? Did you know where he was at? Did you try to take him away? Those are the ones that are Hall of Famers."

Fred Taylor not only agrees; he's more direct.

"My numbers," he said on a Talk of Fame Network broadcast, "were better than [the] majority of the backs that had ever played this game."

He can say that because he's right. Take a look: 

-- He ranks 17th all-time in rushing yards with 11,695, placing him ahead of numerous Hall of Famers, including John Riggins, O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell and Terrell Davis. 

-- He had seven seasons with over 1,000 rushing yards, including a career-high 1,572 yards in 2003, despite battling injuries earlier in his career. In six of those seven seasons, he was over 1,200 yards rushing.

-- Additionally, in six seasons he was in the NFL's top 10 in rushing. 

-- Eight times he was in the top 10 in yards per carry, and his career average of 4.6 yards per rush is tied for sixth-most among the 42 backs with 2,000 or more carries.

-- Even though he never played in an offense that featured running backs as receivers, he still caught 290 balls for 2,384 yards and eight touchdowns. 

No, Taylor never was able to get the cherished ring with a Super Bowl win, but when he did get to the postseason (which wasn't often), he played at an elite level. In the Jacksonville Jaguars' run to the 1998 AFC championship game his rookie season, for instance, he ran for 248 yards in two contests. 

The next postseason, he rushed for 162 yards and a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins, helping the Jaguars to an historic 62-7 win. In that game, he had a 90-yard touchdown run -- still the longest in NFL postseason history. It was the second straight postseason he ran for at least 245 yards in two games.

In his first four playoff contests, Taylor ran for 123.3 yards a game, with a 5.5 yards-per-carry average -- tied for fourth best among all running backs who played in eight playoff games and ran the ball at least 100 times (two quarterbacks, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, are ahead of him, but that's apples to oranges). My point: Given the chance to play in big games, Taylor delivered. It's just a shame that he didn't get more opportunities.

But such was life in Jacksonville in the 2000s. 

However, there's more to Taylor's case than numbers. A lot more. Look what Philadelphia's Saquon Barkley accomplished this season once he joined a quality team. He ran for over 2,000 yards, rushed for over 100 yards in 14 of 19 games (including the playoffs), led the NFL with 2,283 yards from scrimmage and is a favorite to be chosen as the league's Offensive Player of the Year.

Now see what Hall-of-Fame voter Sam Kouvaris recently wrote about him.

"I heard Bill Belichick say last month, unsolicited, 'Saquon Barkley reminds me of Fred Taylor,' " Kouvaris said, " 'and I think Fred’s a Hall of Famer.' " 

In a Q&A at a Hall-of-Fame event several years ago, former Baltimore linebacker  Ray Lewis endorsed Taylor as an elite player, saying, "(He's) got the numbers (for the Hall of Fame). Troy Polamalu agreed, adding in 2007 that Taylor "is probably the best back I've seen in the NFL."

Repeat: The. Best.

His achievements are more remarkable when you consider that, coming out of the University of Florida, the 6-1, 225-pound running back was projected as an NFL fullback. He'd shown great running ability, had big games and was part of a national championship team. But scouts then weren't convinced that he could be a feature back.

All that changed, however, when he ran a 4.29 40 at the 1998 Pro Day at Gainesville, wowing the scouts and coaches there.

"If I had trained," Taylor said, "I would have run faster. That's my time of record for the NFL. I had run as fast as 4.22."

Jacksonville then chose him in the first round of the draft, and you know the rest: Taylor epitomized what a featured back looks like. In his first season, he ran for over 1,200 yards and scored 14 rushing touchdowns to make the All-Rookie team. It was the only kind of "all" he gained until 2007, his last healthy year when he made second-team All-Pro and was named to his only Pro Bowl.  

That's right, though his 10,000 yards rushing in 10 years were more than all backs during that period but Hall-of-Famer Edgerrin James, Taylor had just two postseason selections of any kind. If that were brought up when voters met earlier this month, rest assured that Kouvaris would've had answers for the doubters.

Because there are plenty.

Now we find out if Kouvaris was heard. On Feb. 6 the Hall's Class of 2025 will be announced at the NFL Honors show from New Orleans, with Taylor a longshot. But his case is unlike most others. It's one of an elite running back who excelled in a small market for a team that was often mediocre and overlooked.

Hopefully, voters pay attention. Because they should.