Special Matt Morse edition. In a comment on the Tyreek Hill article recently, Matt asked for the list of players with the most multi-touchdown games. Here's that information, from the last 3 years (I don't think anyone cares about Carlos Hyde having a bunch of those games in 2017-2018, but Damien Harris, pictured, doing it last year is noteworthy).
I'm presenting it in two tables, with data pulled from pro-football-reference.com. It's a really nice website, if you've never checked it out; somewhere in the last few years NFL.com decided to make their site completely unfriendly to users for finding any information at all. It kind of looks like a conscious choice. Whatever; Pro Football Reference is great.
The first table shows the most multi-TD games by all players (running backs and receivers) total over the past three years. The best running back over that span is Derrick Henry, and the best wide receiver is Davante Adams. Neither is a surprise. Nor is it surprising to see Ezekiel Elliott and Tyreek Hill high on the list. Table includes all players with at least 3 multi-TD games from 2019 to 2021.
| MULTI-TD GAMES, 2019-2021 (TOTAL) | |
|---|---|
| Player | Games |
| Derrick Henry | 15 |
| Aaron Jones | 11 |
| Davante Adams | 10 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | 10 |
| Mike Evans | 9 |
| Tyreek Hill | 9 |
| Alvin Kamara | 9 |
| Christian McCaffrey | 9 |
| Jonathan Taylor | 8 |
| Dalvin Cook | 8 |
| Josh Jacobs | 8 |
| Cooper Kupp | 8 |
| Adam Thielen | 8 |
| Nick Chubb | 7 |
| James Conner | 7 |
| Melvin Gordon | 7 |
| D.K. Metcalf | 7 |
| Joe Mixon | 7 |
| Mark Andrews | 6 |
| Austin Ekeler | 6 |
| Leonard Fournette | 6 |
| Todd Gurley | 6 |
| Tyler Lockett | 6 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 5 |
| Kareem Hunt | 5 |
| Chris Carson | 5 |
| Kenyan Drake | 5 |
| Mark Ingram | 5 |
| Travis Kelce | 5 |
| David Montgomery | 5 |
| Jeff Wilson | 5 |
| Antonio Gibson | 4 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 4 |
| A.J. Brown | 4 |
| Marquise Brown | 4 |
| Chris Godwin | 4 |
| Nyheim Hines | 4 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 4 |
| Marvin Jones | 4 |
| Christian Kirk | 4 |
| Latavius Murray | 4 |
| Darius Slayton | 4 |
| Ja'Marr Chase | 3 |
| Damien Harris | 3 |
| Dawson Knox | 3 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson | 3 |
| Deebo Samuel | 3 |
| Devin Singletary | 3 |
| Rex Burkhead | 3 |
| Chase Claypool | 3 |
| AJ Dillon | 3 |
| Mike Williams | 3 |
| Myles Gaskin | 3 |
| Darrell Henderson | 3 |
| Tee Higgins | 3 |
| Justin Jefferson | 3 |
| James Robinson | 3 |
| Saquon Barkley | 3 |
| Kendrick Bourne | 3 |
| Damien Williams | 3 |
| Malcolm Brown | 3 |
| DJ Chark | 3 |
| Stefon Diggs | 3 |
| Hunter Henry | 3 |
| Diontae Johnson | 3 |
| Julio Jones | 3 |
| D.J. Moore | 3 |
| Raheem Mostert | 3 |
| Zach Pascal | 3 |
| Rashaad Penny | 3 |
| Allen Robinson | 3 |
| Darrel Williams | 3 |
| Miles Sanders | 3 |
| Boston Scott | 3 |
Second table breaks the numbers down by season, so you can see who had the most such games last year, and the year before. (More relevant than what Todd Gurley did in 2019, certainly.) It's not surprising to see Jonathan Taylor and Cooper Kupp near the top of the list, but it is surprising to see James Conner up there.
| MULTI-TD GAMES, 2019-2021 (EACH) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Year | Games |
| James Conner | ARI | 2021 | 6 |
| Derrick Henry | TEN | 2020 | 6 |
| Derrick Henry | TEN | 2019 | 6 |
| Aaron Jones | GNB | 2019 | 6 |
| Christian McCaffrey | CAR | 2019 | 6 |
| Cooper Kupp | LAR | 2021 | 5 |
| Joe Mixon | CIN | 2021 | 5 |
| Jonathan Taylor | IND | 2021 | 5 |
| Davante Adams | GNB | 2020 | 5 |
| Alvin Kamara | NOR | 2020 | 5 |
| Mark Ingram | BAL | 2019 | 5 |
| Austin Ekeler | LAC | 2021 | 4 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | DAL | 2021 | 4 |
| Mike Evans | TAM | 2021 | 4 |
| Dalvin Cook | MIN | 2020 | 4 |
| Tyreek Hill | KAN | 2020 | 4 |
| Josh Jacobs | LVR | 2020 | 4 |
| Adam Thielen | MIN | 2020 | 4 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | DAL | 2019 | 4 |
| Todd Gurley | LAR | 2019 | 4 |
| Davante Adams | GNB | 2021 | 3 |
| Ja'Marr Chase | CIN | 2021 | 3 |
| Rob Gronkowski | TAM | 2021 | 3 |
| Damien Harris | NWE | 2021 | 3 |
| Derrick Henry | TEN | 2021 | 3 |
| D.K. Metcalf | SEA | 2021 | 3 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson | ATL | 2021 | 3 |
| Deebo Samuel | SFO | 2021 | 3 |
| Nick Chubb | CLE | 2020 | 3 |
| Mike Evans | TAM | 2020 | 3 |
| Melvin Gordon | DEN | 2020 | 3 |
| Nyheim Hines | IND | 2020 | 3 |
| Kareem Hunt | CLE | 2020 | 3 |
| Tyler Lockett | SEA | 2020 | 3 |
| Christian McCaffrey | CAR | 2020 | 3 |
| Jonathan Taylor | IND | 2020 | 3 |
| Jeff Wilson | SFO | 2020 | 3 |
| Chris Godwin | TAM | 2019 | 3 |
| Josh Jacobs | OAK | 2019 | 3 |
| Alvin Kamara | NOR | 2019 | 3 |
| Darius Slayton | NYG | 2019 | 3 |
So if you're in a best-ball league looking for those huge games, those 2021 guys are the ones to target. Maybe not that relevant when it comes to players who will be selected in the top 5 or 6 spots (nobody is going to be able to select Taylor or Chase outside the top few picks), but perhaps you can load up on guys like Damien Harris, DK Metcalf and Cordarrelle Patterson.
--Andy Richardson