A.J. Green wants to hit 100 touchdowns with the Bengals
As the Cincinnati Bengals leave minicamp and wait for training camp in late July, wide receiver A.J. Green talks about wanting 100 touchdowns with Bengals.
The Cincinnati Bengals ended their 2018 mandatory minicamp this week, and as they head out on vacation until training camp starts on July 26, wide receiver A.J. Green talked about a goal he wants to reach in his career. Green would like to not only hit 100 touchdowns in his career, but he wants to do it as a Bengal. While not usually concerned about numbers and stats, this is one he would like to accomplish.
Green turns 30 the week that training camp starts and while many wide receivers begin to see some decline around that age, he has yet to slow down. In fact, while everyone raves about the speed of second-year receiver John Ross, Green was another player that reached 23 miles per hour during OTA drills running a post route. The fastest player on the field in the NFL last season was Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette who clocked 22.05 miles per hour on a 90-yard touchdown run.
He will first have to beat the Bengals all-time touchdown records which are held by running back Pete Johnson with 70 and Chad Johnson who owns the Bengals receiving touchdowns record with 66. If Green has a great season in 2018, he could top both of those this year. Green currently has 57 touchdowns in his seven seasons with the Bengals so he would need 13 to tie the Bengals all-time touchdown record. Unfortunately, he has yet to have more than 11 touchdowns in a single season as of yet.
The best touchdown numbers in Green’s career came in his second and third season with the team when he had 11 touchdowns each season. Since then, Green had only hit double digits one time which was in 2015 when the offense was explosive. The last two seasons the offense has been a disaster, especially last season, but offensive coordinator Bill Lazor looks to revamp the playbook in 2018 altogether.
Only eight wide receivers have had 100 touchdowns in their career, one of which is still playing in Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald with 110. The other seven all reside in the Hall of Fame, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Fitzgerald will land there at some point. Green is currently tied for 11th among active receivers in career touchdowns with Mike Wallace and Demaryius Thomas. He’s only two touchdowns behind arguably the best wide receiver in the league Antonio Brown.
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Brown has had one more season than Green, but was very limited in his rookie season with the Steelers, unlike Green. He has also put up 1,700 more yards in his career as he has his 1,400 yards in a single season four times. Green, on the other hand, has only hit that mark once in his career which happened in 2013. If he wants to catch 100 touchdowns in his career and make the Hall of Fame, he will have to put up more significant numbers starting this season. Will Green beat his career record and have 13 touchdowns this season to tie the Bengals all-time touchdown record?