Players with the Most Touchdowns in NFL History
Scoring touchdowns is the part of football everyone remembers, and a few players turned that skill into a career-long habit. Year after year, they kept showing up in the end zone, stacking numbers that future stars still chase and building reputations as the players opponents feared most near the goal line.
This guide looks at the all-time leaders in total regular-season touchdowns and what those numbers really say about their careers. You will see how often they scored, how they helped their teams win, and why their names still come up whenever fans talk about greatness.
Jerry Rice
No offensive player turned trips to the end zone into a routine quite like the wide receiver who defined the modern passing game. Over 20 seasons, mostly with San Francisco, Jerry Rice piled up 208 total touchdowns, which is 33 more than anyone else has ever managed. That number includes 197 receiving touchdowns, 10 rushing touchdowns, and one fumble-return touchdown.
Rice’s single-season peak in 1987 still jumps off the page with 22 receiving touchdowns in only 12 games. Along the way, he helped the 49ers win three Super Bowls and took home the Super Bowl XXIII MVP after a 215-yard performance that showcased everything he did best.
Rice’s career is stacked with honours, from 13 Pro Bowls to 10 First Team All-Pro selections, but the raw output is what really sets him apart. By the time he retired, he held the key receiving records with 1,549 catches and 22,895 yards to go with those 208 touchdowns, plus 22 more receiving touchdowns in the playoffs, which are not included in his 208 regular-season total. When people call him the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, they do not have to argue for long, because the gap between his totals and everyone else’s is still enormous.
Emmitt Smith
Few players matched the steady scoring drumbeat that Emmitt Smith delivered for more than a decade in Dallas. Over 15 seasons, he piled up 175 total touchdowns, the second most in league history, with 164 rushing scores that still stand as the NFL record for the ground game. He hit double digits in touchdowns in eight seasons and put together three separate years with at least 19 trips to the end zone, which shows how dangerous he was at his peak in the mid-1990s.
Smith was the heartbeat of the Cowboys teams that dominated that era. He led the league in rushing touchdowns multiple times and, in 1995, finished with 25 total touchdowns while helping Dallas secure another title. Two years earlier, he produced one of the great all-around seasons in league history, winning NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP while also finishing as the rushing leader.
By the time Smith retired, he had played 226 games, become the all-time rushing yardage leader with 18,355 yards, and added 21 postseason touchdowns. His 175 career scores remain the high bar for running backs and a clear sign of a Hall of Fame career built on toughness, vision, and relentless output.
LaDainian Tomlinson
At his peak in San Diego, the star running back felt like an automatic score any time the Chargers crossed midfield. Over 11 seasons, he rang up 162 total touchdowns, third on the all-time list and right near the top of the all-time touchdown leaderboard. That total includes 145 rushing scores, second only to Emmitt Smith. He opened his career with 10 touchdowns as a rookie and then kept posting double-digit totals in each of his first nine seasons, which is the kind of reliability coaches dream about.
The 2006 season pushed his legend into another tier. That year, he set the single-season record with 31 total touchdowns, won the NFL MVP, and led the league in rushing yards. He even chipped in as a passer, finishing his career with seven touchdown throws on trick plays. By the time he retired, he had more than 18,000 yards from scrimmage, five Pro Bowls and three First Team All-Pro nods, plus a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction that felt like a formality given how often he found the end zone.
Randy Moss
When Randy Moss was in his prime, it often felt like he was bending the rules of what a wide receiver could do. Over 14 seasons, he scored 157 total touchdowns, almost all of them through the air, and finished with 156 receiving TDs, second only to Jerry Rice. From the moment he entered the league in 1998 and caught 17 touchdowns as a rookie, defences had to change how they lined up. Cornerbacks backed off, safeties shaded his side, and he still kept winning deep because of his rare mix of speed and leaping ability.
When fans talk about touchdown production from a true downfield threat, his name usually comes up first. The peak of that scoring output came in 2007 with New England, when he grabbed 23 touchdown passes, set the single-season record, and helped the Patriots roll through a perfect regular season.
Moss led the league in touchdown catches five different years and retired ranked fourth in total touchdowns among all players, which shows how often he turned targets into points. With six Pro Bowls, four First Team All-Pro nods, and a long list of highlight plays that still run every fall, he built a Hall of Fame reputation on the simple pattern that if the ball went up deep, it usually belonged to him.
Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens brought power and quickness to the receiver position and turned that skill set into 156 total touchdowns, which puts him fifth on the all time list. His total includes 153 receiving scores, the third-highest mark in league history behind only Jerry Rice and Randy Moss, plus a few touchdowns on designed runs.
Owens posted at least ten receiving touchdowns in eight different seasons and twice finished with 16 in a year, showing how long he stayed near the top of the scoring charts. In 2001 with the 49ers, he recorded 16 touchdowns, then matched that output again in 2007 with Dallas at age 34, a sign of how well his game aged.
Owens led the league in touchdown receptions three times, made six Pro Bowls, and earned five First Team All-Pro nods while piling up 15,934 receiving yards. His performance in Super Bowl XXXIX, where he caught nine passes for 122 yards while coming off a broken leg, became a defining moment of his career. Controversy followed him at times, but the numbers made his Hall of Fame case undeniable, and his 156 touchdowns remain one of the clearest measures of his impact.
Marcus Allen
Marcus Allen turned versatility and patience into one of the most productive scoring careers the league has seen. Over 16 seasons, he totalled 145 touchdowns, good for a spot near the top of the all-time list and a firm place in any discussion about the Most NFL touchdowns from a running back. He finished with 123 rushing scores, which stood as the league record when he retired, and added 21 more through the air.
Allen won a Super Bowl early in his career and put his stamp on that title game with a famous 74-yard scoring run that showed his vision and long speed in the open field. A few years later, he claimed NFL MVP honours after a season with more than 1,700 rushing yards and steady trips to the end zone.
Over time, he became the first player to clear both 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards, then extended his scoring run in Kansas City as a short-yardage specialist who still led the league in rushing touchdowns in 1993. That ability to adapt and keep producing made Allen a clear Hall of Famer and locked him in his place among the game’s true touchdown kings.
Marshall Faulk
Marshall Faulk turned the running back spot into a true all-purpose role and finished his career with 136 total touchdowns. He scored 100 times on the ground and added 36 receiving touchdowns, joining the tiny group of players with at least 100 rushing scores and 30 as a pass catcher. By the time he retired, he had passed 12,000 rushing yards and 6,000 receiving yards, making him the first player to reach both marks and showing how hard it was to scheme him out of a game.
His move to St Louis unlocked his peak years with the Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” attack. In that stretch, he won three straight Offensive Player of the Year awards, captured league MVP in 2000, and put up seasons with 26 and then 21 total touchdowns while helping the Rams win Super Bowl XXXIV.
Earlier flashes in Indianapolis had already hinted at his upside, including a rare year with both 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. Faulk wrapped up his career with 19,154 yards from scrimmage, seven Pro Bowls, and three first-team All-Pro nods, then took his place in Canton as one of the most versatile backs the league has seen.
Cris Carter
Among the great red zone specialists of the modern passing era, Cris Carter is the one most people picture catching yet another fade in the corner. He finished his career with 131 total touchdowns, including 130 receiving touchdowns and one fumble recovery in the end zone, which at the time put him second among wideouts behind only Jerry Rice. Six different seasons ended with double-digit touchdown totals, and in three of those years, he led the league in touchdown receptions, which shows how often quarterbacks trusted him near the goal line.
Most of that damage came in a Minnesota Vikings jersey, where Carter became the primary target whenever the field shrank and coverage tightened. This is where his name still comes up in any talk about the Most NFL touchdowns by a possession receiver. With strong hands and precise footwork, he turned sideline throws into routine scores and stacked six seasons with at least ten touchdown catches.
By the time he walked away, he had 1,101 receptions, 13,899 receiving yards, eight Pro Bowls, and a Hall of Fame nod in 2013, all built on the same simple pattern that included tight coverage, a high ball, and Carter coming down with it in the end zone.
Marvin Harrison
Soft-spoken off the field, Marvin Harrison became a constant problem for defences whenever Peyton Manning dropped back. Over 13 seasons with the Colts, he scored 128 total touchdowns, every single one on a reception, which puts him among the top five in league history for receiving scores. At his best, he stacked eight straight 1,000-yard seasons and multiple years with double-digit touchdown grabs, quietly building one of the most complete players of any wideout of his era.
The 2002 season stood out in particular, when he set the then single-season record with 143 catches and added 11 touchdowns while still looking effortless in the way he got open. The connection with Manning became one of the most talked-about partnerships of modern football. In the regular season, the pair linked up for 112 touchdown passes, still the most ever for a quarterback and receiver duo.
Harrison finished his career with 1,102 receptions and 14,580 receiving yards while remaining the go-to option in tight red zone windows. Eight Pro Bowls, three first-team All-Pro honours, a Super Bowl ring and a Hall of Fame nod in 2016 all flowed from the same core traits, precise routes and reliable hands that turned routine plays into steady trips to the end zone.
Jim Brown
Across only nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns, Jim Brown scored 126 touchdowns and set a standard that stood for decades. The total included 106 rushing scores and 20 receiving touchdowns, all in 12 and 14-game schedules, which pushed his career average to a little more than one touchdown per game.
When he walked away after the 1965 season, no player in league history had found the end zone more often, and it took nearly thirty years before Jerry Rice finally passed his mark. Year after year, he sat at the top of the leaderboard. He led the league in touchdowns five times, capped his final season with 21 total scores, and helped Cleveland win the 1964 NFL title. He was named league MVP in three different seasons and earned First Team All-Pro honours in eight of his nine years while never missing a game. Retiring at age thirty, Jim Brown left with a record book full of his name and a touchdown rate that still looks unreal in the modern passing era.