Fred Taylor Wants to Pass Jim Brown
Every time Fred Taylor is asked when he will retire, he always responds with “when I pass Jim Brown on the all-time rushing yards list”. The reach that milestone would prove to Fred that he has had one hell of a football career.
Fred Taylor is currently at 10,715 career rushing yards. Jim Brown ended his career with 12,312 rushing yards. That means Fred is only 1500+ yards away from reaching Jim Brown. Realistically, Taylor won’t reach that mark in 2008. I mean he could if Maurice Jones Drew gets hurt, but the way the Jags split carries, Fred just won’t get the amount of carries needed to reach 1500 yards. So that puts Fred reaching his goal in 2009 at the age of 33.
With only one active player ahead of him on the all-time rushing list (Edgerrin Jame is at 11,617), Fred could retire in the top 10. That is an absolutely amazing thing considering how much time he missed during the prime of his career. Fred has missed 30+ games due to injury in his career. Let’s say we cut that in half and he only missed 15. If Fred averages about 84 yards per game, that’s 1260 extra yards he would have if he had only missed 15 games in his career instead of 30. It’s just mind boggling how good this guy is when he’s playing.
I hope Fred continues to play after he passes Jim Brown, but I guess that will just depend on how his body is holding up at age 33. Not many backs play into their 30s.