Milestones within reach for 13 players
A number of star players can hit career statistical milestones during the 2017 season, some sooner than others.
We start with the player who could set a major record for his position Monday night.
Antonio Gates — Most TD catches for a tight end
Currently: 111
Gates is tied with Tony Gonzalez, but he could break that deadlock in Week 1. Look for Philip Rivers to take aim at his longtime go-to target when the Los Angeles Chargers open at the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.
Drew Brees — 70,000 passing yards
Currently: 66,111
Brees needs 3,889 yards to hit
70K, and it’s a good bet he will given his lowest passing yardage season with the New Orleans Saints is a 4,388-yard season in
2009 (his team won the Super Bowl that year). Brees still needs
5,727 yards to catch Brett Favre for No. 2 on the all-time list. Brees is also 464 completions short of the NFL’s all-time record and 35 touchdown passes short of 500 for his career.
Tom Brady — 65,000 passing yards
Currently: 61,582 Brady needs just 3,639 yards to hit 65K for his career. If he wants to hit that milestone, Brady will have to do better than the
3,554 yards he threw for last season.
Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Rivers — 50,000 passing yards
Currently: 48,214 for Manning, 46,814 for Roethlisberger,
45,833 for Rivers
These three quarterbacks entered the league together as firstround draft picks in 2004, and it
is quite a coincidence that the trio could hit this milestone together in the same year, too. Though Rivers has his work cut out for him.
Manning — 200 consecutive starts
Currently: 199
When Manning lines up behind center on the New York Giants’ first offensive possession of
2017 against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, he will hit 200 consecutive regular-season starts in his career. If he starts all 16 games this season, he’ll be in a four-way tie with Alan Page, Ronde Barber and London Fletcher for sixth-most all time.
Joe Thomas — 10,000 consecutive snaps
Currently: 9,934 Thomas’ streak is believed to be the longest in NFL history, according to the Cleveland Browns. Thomas could hit 10K consecutive snaps in Week 2. Frank Gore — 14,000 rush-
ing yards
Currently: 13,065
Gore ran for 1,025 yards last season, so it wouldn’t be a total shock if he hit 14K in 2017. With
620 more rushing yards, Gore will move into fifth place on the all-time list over LaDainian Tomlinson’s 13,684.
Adrian Peterson — 100 touchdowns rushing
Currently: 97
With three more touchdown runs, Peterson will become just the ninth player in league history to hit the century mark. If he can hit double-figure touchdown runs, he’ll vault from 10th to fifth on the all-time list.
Larry Fitzgerald — 15,000 receiving yards
Currently: 14,389 A 1,000-yard receiving season would move Fitzgerald — who’s ninth overall — into third place on the all-time yardage list. Julius Peppers — 150 sacks Currently: 1431⁄ 2 Peppers sits at fifth all time in
sacks, and Chris Doleman is ahead of him with 1501⁄ 2. If Peppers matches his sack total from 2016 (71⁄ 2), he’ll pass the Hall of Famer.
Adam Vinatieri — 2,500 points
Currently: 2,378 Vinatieri is 57 points from passing Gary Anderson and becoming the NFL’s No. 2 all-time leading scorer. He needs 167 points to surpass Morten Andersen’s total of 2,544 to become the all-time leader. Vinatieri’s career high is 141 points, so he’ll surely need to extend his career into a
23rd season in 2018.
Shane Lechler — 1,400 punts
Currently: 1,352
With 49 more punts, he can tie Sean Landeta for the secondmost punts in league history. He should get that; his career low for punts came in 2002, when he had 53 for an Oakland Raiders team that reached the Super Bowl.