Each NFL Team's Touchdown King

This is an obvious spinoff to the last post here, Each MLB Team's Home Run King, so before we dive into football, a minor correction...

Pete Alonso quickly broke his tie for the Mets' home run record with Darryl Strawberry, and after he did, the SNY booth mentioned Alonso being one of four active players who leads a team in dingers, and while I realized that despite mentioning Giancarlo Stanton holding the Marlins' team record, I'd only said that Salvador Perez and José Ramirez were looking to join Manny Machado, Mike Trout, and now Alonso "as team record holders," when what I meant was "establishing new team records with every homer."

This is important context, not only because of Alonso's pending free agency and the chance that he'll join Stanton as team record holders still playing with another team (my position is the Mets should give Alonso whatever he wants to finish his career as a Met, but I don't run the Mets), but also because of the way I approached the NFL team leaders after using Stathead to find them and pretty much all the other numbers.

As with the home run kings, there are three NFL players who enter the season actively adding to their team records -- Mike Evans (Tampa Bay, 106), Alvin Kamara (New Orleans, 86), and Mark Andrews (Baltimore, 51) -- and one who is now with another team, Derrick Henry (Tennessee, 93), who is already tied for 12th in Ravens history with 18 touchdowns in one season with them.

Andrews set the Baltimore record last season, surpassing Jamal Lewis' mark of 47. Now that the Ravens finally have a 50-touchdown man, they can set their sights on being the last NFL team to have a player score 60 touchdowns. Lamar Jackson is currently sixth in team history with 33, with Henry just four touchdowns from tying Jermaine Lewis to enter the top 10.

The next-lowest team records belong to Roddy White (Atlanta, 63), Arian Foster (Houston, 68), and Pete Johnson (Cincinnati, 70), and all of those franchises' active touchdown leaders -- Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, and Joe Mixon -- are currently playing for other teams.

This Stantonian wrinkle is one I'd avoided in the baseball post by the way I categorized active players, which is to say, active with their team and thus actively either chasing or adding to a record:

"Maybe Rafael Devers could have eventually pursued Williams, with 215 home runs at the age of 28, but Boston traded him to San Francisco, where Wilmer Flores is the active leader with 88 home runs, leaving Jarren Duran's 46 career home runs as the most by an active Red Sox player."

That makes sense in the context of being interested in the idea as a result of Alonso's pursuit of Strawberry, but doing this right before the NFL season starts, it turns out to be a good way to remember "hey, that guy who's scored a ton of touchdowns for that team, he isn't on that team anymore," although Adam Thielen got traded back to Minnesota on the morning of this post, so he's the closest active player to Cris Carter's 110 touchdowns as a Viking, and the closest active Viking, taking that honor back from Justin Jefferson (41), at least for the time being.

Thielen's return to Minnesota means that it's no longer the case that half the league's active touchdown leaders are with other teams, but it's still one of the ways that I grouped franchises to look at here. For each team, I have three questions:

1. Is the active touchdown leader currently on the team? (17/32)
2. Is the team record holder in the Hall of Fame? (18/33)
3. Did the team record holder play for the team in 2000 or later? (20/33)

It's 33 for the last two questions because Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas both scored 87 touchdowns for the Bills and both are in the Hall of Fame, each having last played for the Bills in 1999. That means the Bills are a "yes, yes, no" team with Josh Allen needing 20 touchdowns to tie last century's Buffalo legends.

Allen is the second-closest player to a team record who is currently with the team, with the only franchise mark likely to fall this year being in Kansas City, where Travis Kelce (80) is three scores away from matching Priest Holmes. We could've had a whole conversation about Cooper Kupp being two touchdowns away from Todd Gurley's record 60 as a Los Angeles Ram, but also still well off Marshall Faulk's total Rams record of 85, but Kupp went to Seattle, which is one of those "hey, that guy who's scored a ton of touchdowns for that team, he isn't on that team anymore" guys.

So, let's actually get to the breakdown of team records with the three-question matrix, and conveniently the Rams share a group with two other teams with similar conversations to have about what their whole deal is because they've moved around.

Active leader not currently on team, Record holder in Hall of Fame, Record holder played 2000 or later

Chargers (LaDainian Tomlinson, 153), Raiders (Tim Brown, 104), Rams (Marshall Faulk, 85)

You might notice how I tend to use city names, which helps me avoid using certain team nicknames, but also makes it harder to write about Henry Aaron's team records in baseball. Here, well, I am not going to refer to "Los Angeles Chargers record holder LaDainian Tomlinson" or "Tim Brown of the Las Vegas Raiders." So here we are with franchise records that really belong to other cities despite their relative recency, and current franchise leaders in Austin Ekeler (69), Josh Jacobs (39), and Kupp (58) who don't even go here anymore. How much have the Chargers overhauled their offense lately? Justin Herbert is their active-active touchdown leader with 13, while Jakobi Meyers has scored 14 for Las Vegas, and Kyren Williams is up to 31 for the Rams.

Active leader currently on team, Record holder in Hall of Fame, Record holder played 2000 or later

San Francisco (Jerry Rice, 187), Dallas (Emmitt Smith, 164), Indianapolis (Marvin Harrison, 128), Minnesota (Carter, 110)

This group not only grew with Thielen's return to Minnesota, but with Ezekiel Elliott retiring. Congratulations to CeeDee Lamb, you're only 122 touchdowns away from your team record, a gap 20 smaller than what George Kittle, who has scored an impressive 45 touchdowns in his career, is away from Rice. Jonathan Taylor would have the record in Baltimore, but thanks to those Mayflower trucks, 56 touchdowns for the Colts isn't even halfway to Harrison in Indianapolis (also Lenny Moore scored 113 touchdowns for the Baltimore Colts, most of anyone who doesn't hold a team record).

There are two other members of the 125-touchdowns-for-one-team club, and their franchise records, for some of the oldest franchises in the game, are in even less danger...

Active leader not currently on team, Record holder in Hall of Fame, Record holder did not play 2000 or later

Cleveland (Jim Brown, 126), Chicago (Walter Payton, 125), Green Bay (Don Hutson, 105), Pittsburgh (Franco Harris, 100), N.Y. Giants (Frank Gifford, 78)

With the exception of the Packers, for whom Davante Adams (now with the Rams) scored 73 touchdowns, these are some of the most consistently constipated offensive teams going. It's wild that for as good as the Packers have been, with Hall of Fame-level quarterbacks, that Hutson has the longest-standing team touchdown record in the NFL.

Active leaders: Nick Chubb (56, now with Houston), David Montgomery (30, now with Detroit), Adams, Najee Harris (34, now with L.A. Chargers), Saquon Barkley (47, now with Philadelphia)

Active-Active leaders: David Njoku (30), Cole Kmet (19), Jayden Reed (17), Pat Freiermuth (18), Darius Slayton (21)

Everything about this is embarrassing for the Giants, whose touchdown record is sixth-lowest in the NFL despite having been in the league for more than 100 years. Granted, that's a record only one touchdown fewer than the defending Super Bowl champions who have also been in the league forever, but the Giants' active touchdown leader is a big part of the reason the Eagles are the defending Super Bowl champions, so...

Active leader currently on team, Record holder in Hall of Fame, Record holder did not play 2000 or later

Detroit (Barry Sanders, 109), Washington (Charley Taylor, 90), N.Y. Jets (Don Maynard, 88), Buffalo (Reed/Thomas, 87), Philadelphia (Harold Carmichael, 79)

Active leaders: Amon-Ra St. Brown (34), Terry McLaurin (39), Breece Hall (22), Allen (67), Jalen Hurts (55)

...the situation is also kinda different for the Eagles when their quarterback is 27 years old and 24 touchdowns away from the team record. Four of Philly's top six TD scorers of all time played before the Super Bowl era, everyone except Carmichael and Brian Dawkins. Which is to say, even with their recent success, the rise of the Lions, and the Joe Gibbs and Marv Levy eras, all of these teams' histories are largely about being complete butt, and the Jets don't even need some kind of carveout to assuage anyone that you're not forgetting about that little run of great teams they had. Even when they've been good, they've sucked.

You'd prefer to be the exact opposite, right?

Active leader not currently on team, Record holder not in Hall of Fame, Record holder played 2000 or later

Seattle (Shaun Alexander, 112), Tennessee (Henry, 93), Carolina (Steve Smith, 75), Houston (Foster, 68), Atlanta (White, 63)

Active leaders: Tyler Lockett (65, now with Tennessee), Henry, Christian McCaffrey (50, now with San Francisco), Hopkins (54, now with Baltimore), Ridley (28 now with Houston)

Active-Active leaders: Kenneth Walker III (26), Tyjae Spears (8), Chuba Hubbard (24), Nico Collins (18), Bijan Robibnson (23)

Mostly it's upsetting that Julio Jones (61) isn't the Falcons' all-time touchdown leader. What's that about? Also, Michael Turner scored as many touchdowns for the Falcons as Julio Jones? What the hell? How did that happen?

Also, put Alexander in the Hall of Fame, who else can say that there was a team record of 101 (Steve Largent) that they went out and broke? You already know from the Colts that it's Harrison, but that's it. There are two other teams besides the Colts and Seahawks with 100-touchdown scorers, but Adrian Peterson and Antonio Gates got to the Vikings and Chargers after carter and Tomlinson had set those franchises' records.

Speaking of Hall of Fame cases, let's get to the group where active players are holding or about to hold their team record, along with some of the records set most recently...

Active leader currently on team, Record holder not in Hall of Fame, Record holder played 2000 or later

Arizona (Larry Fitzgerald, 121), Tampa Bay (Evans, 106), New Orleans (Kamara, 86), Kansas City (Holmes, 83), Jacksonville (Maurice Jones-Drew, 81), New England (Rob Gronkowski, 80), Denver (Rod Smith, 71), Baltimore (Andrews, 51)

Active leaders: James Conner (44), Evans, Kamara, Kelce, Travis Etienne (19), Rhamondre Stevenson (23), Courtland Sutton (32), Andrews

This is the biggest group, including multiple players who haven't gotten to the Hall of Fame yet but will, probably starting with Fitzgerald next year.

Before Holmes gets bumped by Kelce, let's give him some flowers in the form of another list: players who had more touchdowns (minimum of 5) than games played during their time with a single team.

• LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego, 2001-09: 153 TD, 141 games
• Jim Brown, Cleveland, 1957-65: 126 TD, 118 games
• Priest Holmes, Kansas City, 2001-07: 83 TD, 65 games
• Clinton Portis, Denver, 2002-03: 31 TD, 29 games
• Derrick Henry, Baltimore, 2024: 18 TD, 17 games

The funnier list is players with more touchdowns than games played in their entire career because it's Jim Brown and running back Wes Hills, who scored a pair of touchdowns for the Lions in a 38-17 loss to the Buccaneers on Dec. 15, 2019, and never otherwise appeared in an NFL regular-season game (he did get some preseason run with the Cardinals). There's also a scab from the 1987 strike who scored three touchdowns in two games for the Rhinestone Cowboys, but I'd talk about Spec Sanders scoring 40 touchdowns in 40 games for the 1946-48 New York Yankees of the AAFC (the league that gave us the Browns and 49ers) before that.

For now, we still have two teams left to talk about, one of which already came up because its record is low, and even though the active leader isn't actively there, it's not going to last much longer.

Active leader not currently on team, Record holder not in Hall of Fame, Record holder did not play 2000 or later

Cincinnati (Johnson, 70)

Active leader: Mixon, 62 (now with Houston)

Active-Active leader: Ja'Marr Chase (46)

As with Allen and Hurts, the record almost certainly is safe this year, because 20-plus touchdowns is bonkers, but 2026 should be fun for some changing of the guard.

So, which team is the one NFL team we haven't discussed yet? Coming all the way back around to Giancarlo Stanton and the Marlins...

Active leader currently on team, Record holder not in Hall of Fame, Record holder did not play 2000 or later

Miami (Mark Clayton, 82)

Active leader: Tyreek Hill (28)

The Dolphins also are with the Bengals, for now, in a way, because while Hill is Miami's active touchdown leader, he's tied at 28 Dolphins touchdowns with Raheem Mostert, now with Las Vegas.

Clayton's last game with the Dolphins was the AFC championship at the end of the 1992 season, a 29-10 home loss to the Bills. It's fun to get lost in "the Cowboys haven't been to an NFC title game in 30 years" but Miami's drought is even longer, and shorter only in real time than Cleveland's failure to reach the NFL's final four since 1989, but then the Browns didn't exist for three years, so they and the Dolphins are tied in a more realistic measure of futility.

The last time the Dolphins hosted a playoff game, they lost to rookie Joe Flacco, who went 9-for-23 for 135 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions, good enough to outduel Chad Pennington, who completed nearly half as many passes to the Ravens (four) as Flacco did. That game at Land Shark Stadium would seem like even longer ago if Flacco, who completed two passes that day to The Other Mark Clayton, wasn't still a starter in the league. Yes, it's the Browns, but the man is 40 years old. He's old enough to remember the Dolphins being good.