NFL Players Who Randomly Scored a Ton of Touchdowns in the Last 10 Seasons

The difficulty of scoring touchdowns should not be underestimated. Top offensive players tend to make it look uncomplicated, but they’ve usually earned their reputation because of that production.

It’s not shocking if Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry or Davante Adams puts up a bunch of touchdowns.

There was, however, an awful lot of surprise when LeGarrette Blount, Eric Ebron and Jamaal Williams couldn’t stop scoring.

The following seven players enjoyed a sensational outlier of a season that featured a bunch of touchdowns after they hadn’t produced near that level in the past. Save for Williams (since it happened in 2022), each one never flirted with a similar year afterward, either.

During the prime of his career, Houston Texans edge-rusher J.J. Watt moonlighted as a familiar face in the end zone.

Sure, he nabbed an incredible 80-yard pick-six. Yes, he returned a fumble for a 45-yard touchdown, too. But the menacing defender also occasionally played goal-line snaps and ended up catching three passes—all touchdowns—to collect five scores in 2014.

Five, obviously, is not a huge number. Given his actual role, though, that’s a pretty ridiculous feat.

Prior to 2014, he’d only scored on a pick-six in a playoff game. Watt never caught another touchdown and had just one defensive touchdown for the last eight seasons of his career.

Oh, by the way: Watt tallied 20.5 sacks in 2014 and secured the second of his three AP Defensive Player of the Year honors.

When you consider the context of Tyler Eifert’s career, perhaps he’s a debatable inclusion. A first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2013 draft, Eifert entered the 2015 season as a breakout candidate after a dislocated elbow sidelined him in 2014.

From a numbers perspective, though, he fits the billing.

Eifert caught two touchdowns on 60 targets as a rookie. Then he exploded for 13 scores on 74 targets in 2015 and snagged five touchdowns in 47 targets in 2016. The oft-injured tight end then managed six trips to the end zone during the final four seasons of his career.

Only three players—Doug Baldwin, Brandon Marshall and Allen Robinson—had more touchdown receptions (14) than Eifert in 2015.

The often-unpredictable New England Patriots backfield over the last 15 years has also randomly had some red-zone stability.

LeGarrette Blount scored a career-high seven touchdowns with the Patriots in 2013 and matched that number in 2015. Entering the 2016 season, he seemed like a competent, low-upside back.

So much for that perception.

Blount bulldozed his way to a league-leading and franchise-record 18 touchdowns, tallying at least one in 13 of the 16 regular-season games. New England finished with a 14-2 record and later engineered the iconic comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

The next season? Blount totaled just three scores on 181 touches with the Philadelphia Eagles.

When the Detroit Lions added Eric Ebron with the 10th pick of the 2014 draft, they envisioned a game-breaking tight end.

Although it’s unfair to label him a total bust, Ebron certainly fell short of expectations. He topped out at 61 receptions and 711 yards while totaling a modest 12 scores in his four seasons with the Lions.

But a change of scenery ignited his career.

Ebron joined the Indianapolis Colts in 2018 and snared 13 touchdowns in his lone campaign with Andrew Luck. Ebron added one rushing score en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.

Luck retired before the 2019 season, however, and Ebron’s production dropped. He caught three touchdowns with Indy before posting six scores in two years with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Robert Tonyan is the definition of a one-year touchdown wonder.

The tight end managed a single score in each of his first two seasons on the Green Bay Packers. Not only did he rarely find the end zone, but he also didn’t catch many passes, recording 14 receptions in limited snaps.

But in 2020, he practically matched his career receptions total in touchdowns alone; he scored 11 times on 52 catches.

Even before a left ACL injury ended his 2021 campaign, Tonyan had only two touchdowns in eight games. He played a full season in 2022 and yet again scored just twice.

Five seasons after Blount’s unexpected surge, Damien Harris had a similar year in 2021 with the Patriots.

Harris established himself as the red-zone back and turned 44 carries inside the opponent’s 20-yard line into 13 of his 15 scores. Blount is the only player in team history with more rushing touchdowns in a season.

After handling four touches as a rookie, he scored twice on 137 attempts in 2020. Following his massive year, Harris had three touchdowns on 106 carries in 2022.

The short version: You can never be certain how New England will use its running backs.

In four years as a rotational back with the Packers, Jamaal Williams rushed for 10 touchdowns and caught eight scores. He totaled six touchdowns in two of those seasons.

Williams joined the Lions in 2021, and the running back’s role basically stayed the same, as he scored three times.

And then 2022 happened.

Detroit began to lean heavily on Williams, who smashed his previous high of 179 touches with 274. He became a red-zone machine and racked up an NFL-best 17 touchdowns.

Williams parlayed the spectacular season into $8.15 million of guaranteed money in a contract with the New Orleans Saints.