The NFL kicks off in a matter of hours. What better time to check in on potential milestones that may be reached in 2017, and some records that may be broken relatively soon.
Passing
Drew Brees is 5,830 yards from breaking Peyton Manning's all-time career yardage record. While it's not going to happen this season, what might is Brees surpassing the 5,000-yard mark for the sixth time. Brees already owns the record at five.
Brees is 35 touchdown passes from 500 and 3,889 yards from 70,000 for his career. At 66,111 yards, Brees has completed passes for 37.5 miles worth of yardage. He's 75 TDs from Peyton Manning's record of 539. Brees is 43 shy of Brett Favre's 508.
Tom Brady is 3,418 yards from 65,000 for his career, and needs 44 TD passes to hit 500.
Eli Manning needs 1,782 yards to reach 50,000 for his career and just 23 TD passes to move into sixth place all-time ahead of Fran Tarkenton.
Ben Roethlisberger is 3,186 yards from 50,000. Philip Rivers is 4,167 yards from 50,000.
Matt Ryan needs 2,299 yards to hit the 40,000 mark. Aaron Rodgers is 3,362 yards from 40,000. Ryan is 10 TD passes from 250 for his career, Rodgers needs just three TD passes to reach 300.
Matt Stafford is just 13 TD passes short of 200. Joe Flacco needs 18 to reach the mark.
Andy Dalton needs 2,786 yards to reach 25,000 career passing yards and eight TD passes to get to 150. Cam Newton is 3,218 yards shy of 25,000. and 14 short of 150 TD passes. Newton also needs just two rushing TDs to reach 50.
Andrew Luck is 922 yards from 20,000 and 18 TDs from 150. Sam Bradford is 1,233 yards from the same mark. Russell Wilson needs 1,807 yards to reach 20,000 and 23 TD passes to reach 150.
Jameis Winston is 1,868 yards from 10,000 yards passing, nearly 2,000 yards ahead of Marcus Mariota. Winston already has 50 TD passes. Mariota needs five to get there.
Carson Palmer needs 15 TD passes to reach 300 for his career.
Derek Carr needs 19 to reach 100 for his career. Kirk Cousins needs 28 to get to 100 for his career.[divider]
Rushing
Frank Gore is No. 8 all-time in rushing yards and needs just 193 to move past Eric Dickerson for No. 7 and 598 to pass Jerome Bettis for No. 6. Gore needs 620 to move into 5th place all-time, pushing LaDanian Tomlinson down a spot. It may be unlikely, but if Gore rushes for 1.047 yards this season, he will surpass Curtis Martin for the No. 4 total in NFL history.
Gore also is 10 TD shy of 100 combined TDs. His 90 ranks No. 32 all-time, tied with Tony Dorsett. He likely moves into the Top 15 in total all-purpose yards this season.
Gore starts the season ranked No. 10 in carries with 2,965, one shy of Dickerson for No. 9 all-time. A 200-carry season for Gore would move him into sixth place all-time and 210 carries gets him into fifth place.
Adrian Peterson needs just 253 yards to reach 12,000 for his career and just three rushing TDs to get to 100. Only eight players have 100 or more rushing TDs. Emmitt Smith is the all-time leader at 164.
Chris Johnson, who was cut by the Arizona Cardinals last week, is 447 yards from 10,000. Matt Forte is 585 shy of 10,000. Marshawn Lynch needs 888 yards to get to 10k and LeSean McCoy needs 1,046 yards to get to 10,000.
Alfred Morris is 44 yards from 5,000, Chris Ivory needs 530 yards to get there. Mark Ingram is 762 yards away, Doug Martin is 773 yards from the mark and Le'Veon Bell is just 955 yards from 5,000.
LeGarrette Blount is one TD shy of 50.[divider]
Receiving
Brandon Marshall needs 59 catches to reach 1,000 for his career.
Larry Fitzgerald needs 651 receiving yards to reach 15,000 for his career. Only five players have reached that total in the history of the NFL. He's also just five total TDs shy of Barry Sanders for No. 17 all-time and likely moves into the Top 15 this season.
A.J. Green is one TD catch from 50f or his career. That's one fewer than Antonio Brown in one less season in the NFL.
DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are four TD receptions from 50. Michael Crabtree is seven shy of the half-century mark. Julio Jones needs 10.[divider]
All-Purpose
Darren Sproles is 989 yards from 20,000 all-purpose yards, which would put him ahead of Marshall Falk and Tim Brown.[divider]
Kicking
Adam Vinatieri needs 60 points to pass Gary Anderson for No. 2 all-time. Morten Andersen is No. 1 with 2,544, 166 more than Vinatieri. Typically, kickers that lead the league in points end up in the 140-160 range, suggesting Vinatieri isn't breaking the record until next season.
Coaching
Bill Bellichick is 13 wins from 250 for his career, which is not out of reach for the Patriots' head man in 2017. The all-time record of 328 by Don Shula may not be out of reach, either.
Marvin Lewis is seven wins from 125 for his career, Mike McCarthy is 11 from 125.
Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll both start 2017 with 103 wins and should easily get to 110 this season — 115 isn't out of the question, either.
Sean Payton is six wins from 100 and if the Raiders go 13-3, Jack Del Rio will end the year with 100.
Chuck Pagano is one win from 50 for his carrer — are we sure he gets it if Andrew Luck doesn't play?
Bruce Arians is nine wins from 50.
Andy Reid, who is 173-114 as a head coach, has one fewer loss than Bellichick but 64 fewer wins. Just saying.
