Who Has the Most Touchdowns in NFL History?
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The answer may surprise you. Check out our list of the NFL’s all-time leading touchdown scorers.
Emmitt Smith
Emmitt Smith is a former American football player who was a running back for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. Smith is the NFL’s all-time rushing leader, a title he held when he retired in 2004. He is also the only player in NFL history to record more than 200 rushing yards in a game three times.
NFL career
Emmitt Smith played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals in the National Football League (NFL). He is the NFL’s all-time rushing yards leader, a three-time Super Bowl champion, and was the league MVP in 1993. Smith was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
Touchdowns
Emmitt Smith holds the NFL record for most career touchdowns, with 164. He played for the Dallas Cowboys from 1990 to 2002, and also had a brief stint with the Arizona Cardinals in 2003. Smith is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was inducted in 2010.
Jerry Rice
Jerry Rice is a former American football wide receiver who played 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is considered to be the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. Rice holds the NFL records for most career receptions, most career touchdown receptions, and most career receiving yards. He was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times in his career and named First-team All-Pro 12 times. He won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers and was named the Super Bowl MVP in 1989.
NFL career
Jerry Rice is a former American football wide receiver who played 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He is widely considered to be the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, and often called the greatest player in NFL history. He is ranked 1st in all-time receiving yards, 1st in all-time touchdown receptions, and 3rd in all-time receptions, with 1,549 catches. Rice was selected to 13 Pro Bowls and named to 10 First-team All-Pro teams. He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders. As of 2019, he owns nearly every major receiving record.
Rice was born in Starkville, Mississippi, and attended B.L. Moore High School before transferring to New Orleans’ John Ehret High School where he played football and ran track for four years. He played college football at Mississippi Valley State University from 1981 to 1984 where he was a two-time All-American and led the nation in receiving yards his senior year. He then pursued a professional career playing for the San Francisco 49ers from 1985 until 2000, whereupon he signed with the Oakland Raiders for one season before returning to play for San Francisco until his retirement after that season.
Touchdowns
In 1987, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice caught 22 touchdowns, which was the most in a single season at that time. He would go on to break his own record in 1989, 1990, and 1993 with 23, 24, and 25 touchdown receptions respectively. But it wasn’t until 1995 that he eclipsed the 30-touchdown mark, with 31. That’s a feat that has only been matched by four other players in NFL history: Randy Moss (1998), Marvin Harrison (2002), Michael Crabtree (2012), and DeAndre Hopkins (2018).
LaDainian Tomlinson
LaDainian Tomlinson is a retired NFL running back who played for the San Diego Chargers and the New York Jets. He is the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns with 160. He is also second in all-time rushing yards with 13,684.
NFL career
LaDainian Tomlinson played 11 seasons in the NFL, spending the first nine with the Chargers and his final two with the Jets. He is widely considered one of the greatest running backs of all time. During his career, he rushed for more than 13,000 yards and caught more than 600 passes for nearly 5,000 yards. He also holds the NFL record for most touchdowns in a single season, with 31 in 2006.
Touchdowns
In his 11-year career, LaDainian Tomlinson scored a total of 145 touchdowns, the most of any player in NFL history. Of those 145 touchdowns, 131 were rushing touchdowns, and 14 were receiving touchdowns. He also had 10 touchdown runs of 50 yards or more, the most in NFL history.
Randy Moss
Randy Moss is a former American football wide receiver who played for fifteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He holds the NFL single-season touchdown reception record (23 in 2007), the NFL single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17 in 1998), and the second most touchdown receptions in NFL history (156).
NFL career
Moss played college football for Marshall University, and twice earned All-American honors. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft, where he played for seven years before a trade in 2005 brought him to the Oakland Raiders. On April 29, 2007, Moss was traded to the New England Patriots for a fourth-round draft pick. In his first season in New England, Moss caught a then-record 23 touchdown passes in helping lead the Patriots to an undefeated regular season.
Moss held the single-season touchdown reception record for ten years after his 23 touchdown campaign, before it was surpassed by Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas in 2014. He is considered one of the greatest wide receivers of all time.
Touchdowns
Randy Moss is widely considered one of the best wide receivers in NFL history. He began his career with the Minnesota Vikings in 1998, where he quickly established himself as a prolific pass catcher. In his first season, he caught 69 passes for 1,313 yards and an incredible 17 touchdowns, which was a rookie record at the time. He would go on to have six more seasons with at least 10 touchdowns, and his total of 159 touchdown catches is the second most in NFL history.
Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens, nicknamed “T.O.”, is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He ranks second in career receiving yards (15,934) and third in receiving touchdowns (153).
NFL career
A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Owens holds or shares several National Football League (NFL) records. His 15,934 career receiving yards rank second in NFL history and his 153 receiving touchdowns rank third. As of 2018, he is the only wide receiver to average at least 15 yards per reception for his career and have over 1,000 career catches. Owens was drafted in the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
Owens was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004 after a controversial stint with the San Francisco 49ers that included a brief retirement. He played for Philadelphia Eagles from 2004 to 2005, Dallas Cowboys from 2006 to 2008, Buffalo Bills in 2009 and Cincinnati Bengals in 2010. Owens also played for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2012.
Touchdowns
In his 15-year NFL career, Terrell Owens caught 1,078 passes for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns. That’s an average of nearly 71 catches and 1,026 yards per season, with 10 or more touchdown catches in 11 of his 15 seasons. Owens was selected to six Pro Bowls and was named a first-team All-Pro five times. He is widely considered one of the greatest receivers in NFL history.
