New England Patriots Fred Taylor may retire after 13 years in NFL
Pat Dooley, reporter for a local newspaper in Gainesville, Florida, said that Fred Taylor, running back for the New England Patriots, hinted that he is retiring.
Dooley tweeted on that “Fred Taylor told me on sidelines he is ‘basically retired’ ”. Last month, Taylor told a newspaper in Florida that he was not sure if he wanted to return for another year or retire after 13 years in the National Football League (NFL).
Taylor was drafted ninth overall in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars out of the University of Florida, where he led the team in rushing yards and was named to the first team All South-eastern Conference (SEC) and the Walter
Camp first team All American.
When he graduated from Florida in 1998, he was ranked fourth in the history of the school with 31 touchdowns and 3,075 yards. He also helped the Florida Gators in winning three consecutive SEC Championships, in 1994, 1995, and 1996.
In Taylor’s rookie year with the Jags, he started in 12 of the 15 games that he played in and racked up 1,223 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, which is still his career high, and also had 44 receptions for 421 yards, as well as three receiving touchdowns.
In Taylor’s second season with the Jags, he missed six games due to an injury to his hamstring but started in nine of the ten games that he played in. Although he ranked second on the team with only 732 rushing yards, he was a major factor in the Jags’ playoff
appearance since he had two games during the playoffs in which he ran for more than 100 yards per game.
He also had the longest rush in the history of the postseason when he had a 90 yard touchdown carry against the Miami Dolphins in a 62-7 win.
Taylor went on to spend 11 years with the Jaguars and had a total of 140 games that he played in, 136 of which he started. He missed 36 games throughout his 11 year run with the Jags mostly due to injuries, the most coming in 2001 when he missed 14 games.
He rushed 2,428 times for the Jags and yielded 11,271 rushing yards and 62 touchdowns. He averaged about 4.7 yards per carry with the Jaguars and his longest run was 80 yards for a touchdown in 2007.
Taylor also had 286 receptions and 2,361 receiving yards for eight touchdowns. He averaged about 8.3 yards per reception and his longest was for a 78 yard touchdown catch in his rookie season. Taylor has also fumbled 26 times and lost 17 of them.
He was then traded to the Patriots in 2009, starting one of the 13 games that he has played in over the past two years and has accumulated a total of 106 carries for 424 yards and four touchdowns.
He also had a total of four receptions in both 2009 and 2010 for 23 yards and no touchdowns. He did not start in any games during the 2010 season.
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