Is this the year? Fred Taylor named Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist for 5th time

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fred Taylor is on the shortlist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame again.

For the fifth consecutive year, Taylor, a Jaguars icon, was named a Modern-Era semifinalist for the football Hall. Will this be the year that Taylor clears the semifinal hump and becomes a first-time finalist? Taylor was among 25 players selected from a nominee pool of 173 to advance to the next stage of the process.

From the semifinalist round, 15 Modern-Era finalists will be selected. From those 15, the list is trimmed to 10 and then to five. Those final five are then voted on individually — a yes or a no — and must receive 80% of the vote from the Hall’s 50-member selection committee to be elected. There are also four candidates for enshrinement in the Coach/Contributor and Seniors categories.

He rushed for 11,695 yards in his career, a number that ranks 17th in NFL history. Taylor scored 66 rushing touchdowns and another eight receiving.

All but two of the running backs in front of Taylor are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the exceptions of Frank Gore (16,000, No. 3) and Adrian Peterson (14,918, No. 5), both of whom aren’t yet eligible. The knock on Taylor has been injuries — he played a full 16-game season just twice in 11 years in Jacksonville — and he made just one Pro Bowl. Similar arguments were made against Tony Boselli, who played just seven seasons due to career-ending shoulder injuries. But Boselli was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All-Pro selection, and was widely regarded as one of the best players at his position in the 1990s. He was enshrined last year.

Boselli, the team’s only Pro Football Hall of Fame selection, was glad to see Taylor’s name on the list again.

“I’m happy and excited to see @FredTaylorMade be a semi-finalist for the @ProFootballHOF,” Boselli wrote on the social media platform, X. “He is one of the greatest to ever play RB in the NFL, and if you have any doubts turn on the film or ask any of the defenders who tried to stop him. He deserves to be a finalist this year so his most PFHOF case can be discussed.”

Taylor holds seven of the top 10 single-season rushing performances in franchise history. His career-best season (1,572 yards, 6 TDs) came in 2003. He was drafted ninth overall out of the University of Florida in 1998 and became a star as soon as Tom Coughlin put him in the lineup full-time in Week 3 of his rookie season. Taylor rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown and had another 85 yards receiving.

The legend in Jacksonville was born.

Taylor rushed for 1,223 yards and 14 touchdowns that season, numbers that would have made him a shoo-in as rookie of the year just about any year. But receiver Randy Moss had an otherworldly rookie season (1,313 receiving yards, 17 TDs) for a Minnesota team that finished 15-1.

Taylor spent 11 seasons in Jacksonville and his final two with the Patriots.

Among semifinalists who have been down this path before like Taylor are receiver Torry Holt (10 times as a semifinalist), receiver Hines Ward and safety Darren Woodson (both eight times), linebacker Patrick Willis and receiver Reggie Wayne (both five times).