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Any discussion of the greatest running backs in NFL history usually centers around a couple of names, in particular Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns and Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears. Though Emmitt Smith has held the league’s career rushing yards record since 2002, that distinction had previously belonged to Payton since 1984, who in turn had broken Brown’s record. With both legendary running backs recently being selected to the NFL 100 All-Time Team, it naturally begs the question:
Who was better – Jim Brown or Walter Payton?
The Beginning
Brown and Payton were both multi-sport high school athletes who had outstanding college football careers and were subsequently drafted into the NFL as first round picks with the expectation of becoming bellcow/franchise running backs.
Born in Georgia, but raised in Long Island, New York, Brown accumulated 13 high school varsity letters in football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, and track and field before attending Syracuse University; there, he continued to excel as a four-sport star in football, lacrosse (where he was also an All-American), basketball, and track and field. In football, Brown improved every year and by his senior year in 1956, was a consensus First Team All-American and finished fifth for the Heisman Trophy; he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995 and his #44 jersey was later retired by Syracuse. Selected sixth overall in the 1957 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, Brown immediately burst onto the scene by leading the league with 942 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns as a rookie, including a then-single game record of 237 rushing yards – for his efforts, he was a Pro Bowler, First Team All-Pro, Rookie of the Year, and league MVP.
Meanwhile, Payton grew up in Mississippi and did basketball, baseball, long jump, and marching band before taking up football as a high school junior. By his senior year, he was an All-State football performer, but at the time, Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools did not typically recruit African-American players, so Payton decided to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and attend historically black Jackson State University. There, he was twice named Black College Player of the Year and set a school record with 65 career rushing touchdowns, including a single-season record 24 scores in 1973; Payton was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Walter Payton Award is now given annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Based on his stellar play at Jackson State, Walter was drafted fourth overall in the 1975 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and had a decent rookie campaign, rushing for 679 yards and 7 touchdowns and adding in 33 receptions for 213 yards.
Career Comparison
During their careers, Brown and Payton successively held the all-time rushing record, a testament to their sustained greatness; in fact, Brown retired from the NFL while still at his peak, leaving generations of football fans to wonder how great his career numbers could have been.
During his NFL career, Brown was named to the Pro Bowl every season and was the league rushing champion and a First Team All-Pro in all but one year. Following up on his MVP rookie season, he was even better in 1958, rushing for 1,527 yards and 17 touchdowns to set a then-single season rushing record and again win MVP honors. In 1959, he led the league in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns for a third straight year with 1,329 yards and 14 touchdowns.
After never having more than 24 receptions or 204 receiving yards in the first four seasons of his career, Brown improved his pass-catching skills in the early 1960s – in 1961, he not only rushed for 1,408 yards and 8 rushing touchdowns, but also added 46 receptions for 459 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Though he “only” rushed for 996 yards in 1962 (his only time below 1,000 rushing yards in a season other than his rookie year) and was not a First Team All-Pro (he was Second Team), Brown still scored 13 rushing touchdowns and had career-highs of 47 catches for 517 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns.
Perhaps Brown’s finest season came in 1963 – he smashed his previous single-season rushing record with 1,863 yards plus 12 touchdowns (again leading the NFL in both categories) and also had 24 receptions for 268 yards and 3 touchdowns to win the Bert Bell Award and become the first player with more than 2,000 scrimmage yards in a season (remember that he also did it in a 14-game season). Following another strong season in 1964 (rushing: 1,446 yards and 7 touchdowns, receiving: 36 receptions for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns), Brown won his third and final MVP in 1965 with league-highs of 1,544 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns, along with 34 catches for 328 yards and 4 touchdowns. Though still in his prime at age 29, he retired after the season to pursue a Hollywood acting career. Upon retirement, Brown was the league leader in single season rushing yards, and career rushing yards, all-purpose yards, rushing touchdowns, and total touchdowns; he also remains the only player in NFL history to average 100+ rushing yards per game over his career.
As for Payton, he broke out in 1976 with the first of five straight Pro Bowls (and 9x overall) by rushing for 1,390 yards and 13 touchdowns; additionally, this was the first of six straight 1,000-yard seasons (10x overall) and the first of five First Team All-Pro selections. He soared to even greater heights in 1977 – by leading the league with 1,852 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns (both career-highs; this included a then-single game record of 275 rushing yards despite having a fever and flu) and also adding 27 receptions for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns, Payton was again a First Team All-Pro and also won both MVP and Offensive Player of the Year honors. From 1976 to 1979, Payton was an iron man who led the league in rushing attempts each season – post his MVP season, he followed up with 1,395 and 1,610 rushing yards, respectively, while also scoring double-digit touchdowns each year.
In 1980, Payton once again was a First Team All-Pro with 1,460 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns, along with 46 receptions for 367 yards and a touchdown. Though he missed out on the Pro Bowl in both 1981 (his 1,222 rushing yards that season was the lowest total of his 1,000-yard seasons) and the strike-shortened 1982 season, Payton bounced back in 1983 with the first of four consecutive Pro Bowl selections on the strength of 1,421 yards and 6 touchdowns plus a career-best 53 catches for 607 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
This was followed by back-to-back All-Pro seasons in 1984 and 1985:
- 1984: 1,684 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, plus 45 receptions for 368 yards; during the season, he first surpassed Franco Harris as the active career rushing leader and then, broke Jim Brown’s career rushing record
- 1985: 1,551 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns, plus 49 catches for 483 yards and 2 touchdowns; earned Bert Bell Award
Payton’s final Pro Bowl and 1,000-yard season came in 1986 with 1,333 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns, along with 37 catches for 382 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. In 1987, he shared the Bears’ backfield with a young Neal Anderson and amassed a career-low 533 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns; after the season, Payton retired at age 33 as the NFL’s career rushing leader (later surpassed by Emmitt Smith).
All in all, Payton played 13 NFL seasons to Brown’s nine and has the advantage of 72 additional regular season games. As a result, he holds the advantage in nearly every major statistical counting category, from rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns to receptions and receiving yards; however, Brown has the significantly better yards per attempt average and actually has more receiving touchdowns. On one hand, Payton has more 1,000-yard seasons (10x to 7x), but on the other hand, Brown scored double-digit touchdowns more frequently (8x vs. 7x), earned more All-Pro selections (8x vs. 5x), and won more MVP awards (3x vs. 1x), with both players making nine Pro Bowl trips. On a per-game basis, Brown also holds the edge, averaging 126 total yards (104 rushing yards, 2.2 receptions for 22 receiving yards) and 1.07 touchdowns per game in 118 regular season games vs. Payton’s 112 total yards (88 rushing yards, 2.6 receptions for 24 receiving yards) and 0.66 touchdowns per game in 190 regular season games. It should come as no surprise that both running backs were first-ballot Hall of Fame selections, Brown in 1971 followed by Payton in 1993.
Regular Season Statistics
| Jim Brown | Player | Walter Payton |
| 9 (1957-1965) | Seasons | 13 (1975-1987) |
| 118 | Games Played | 190 |
| 2,359 | Rushing Attempts | 3,838 |
| 12,312 | Rushing Yards | 16,726 |
| 5.2 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.4 |
| 106 | Rushing Touchdowns | 110 |
| 262 | Receptions | 492 |
| 2,499 | Receiving Yards | 4,538 |
| 20 | Receiving Touchdowns | 15 |
| 9x | Pro Bowls | 9x |
| 8x | All-Pro | 5x |
| 3x | MVP | 1x |
| – | Super Bowls | 1x |
| 1x Bert Bell, 1x NFL Championship | Other Awards | 1x Offensive POY, 1x Bert Bell |
| 1971 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1993 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In addition to their individual accomplishments, Brown and Payton both helped guide their respective teams to championships – in fact, these remain the most recent titles for both the Browns and the Bears.
Brown made four playoff trips during his nine-year career, resulting in three championship games and one NFL title:
- 1957: rushed 20 times for 69 yards and a touchdown as Cleveland was crushed by the Detroit Lions 59-14
- 1964: helped guide the Browns to their most recent championship by rushing 27 times for 114 yards and adding 3 catches for 37 yards in a 27-0 shutout victory over Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts
- 1965: in the final NFL game of his career, was held to only 12 carries for 50 yards and 3 catches for 44 yards in a 23-12 loss to the Green Bay Packers
During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Payton made six playoff trips, with Chicago’s greatest success coming in the mid-1980s. In the 1985 season, led by their ferocious “Monsters of the Midway” defense, the Bears shut out both the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams en route to Super Bowl XX vs. the New England Patriots; there, they crushed the Patriots 46-10 for their only Super Bowl victory. Overall, Payton rushed for 186 yards in the playoffs that year, including 61 in the Super Bowl, but was shut out of the endzone; in fact, Super Bowl XX is perhaps best remembered for 300-pound lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry scoring from the one-yard line for Chicago.
Playoff Statistics
| Jim Brown | Player | Walter Payton |
| 4 | Games Played | 9 |
| 66 | Rushing Attempts | 180 |
| 241 | Rushing Yards | 632 |
| 3.7 | Yards Per Attempt | 3.5 |
| 1 | Rushing Touchdowns | 2 |
| 8 | Receptions | 22 |
| 99 | Receiving Yards | 178 |
| – | Receiving Touchdowns | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; whereas Payton was splitting carries by the end of his career, Brown actually bucked this trend by retiring while still at the top of his game. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams, of which Brown is on for the 1960s and Payton is on for both the 1970s and 1980s), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years. However, given the shorter careers most running backs have due to the physical toll of the position (very few running backs are effective after age 30), I have modified it in this comparison to a “(half)-decade of dominance”.
(Half)-Decade of Dominance
| Jim Brown | Player | Walter Payton |
| 1958, 1961, 1963-1965 | (Half)-Decade of Dominance | 1977-1979, 1984-1985 |
| 68 | Games Played | 78 |
| 1,422 | Rushing Attempts | 1,746 |
| 7,788 | Rushing Yards | 8,092 |
| 5.5 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.6 |
| 61 | Rushing Touchdowns | 59 |
| 156 | Receptions | 202 |
| 1,533 | Receiving Yards | 1,913 |
| 12 | Receiving Touchdowns | 6 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In focusing on each player’s five best seasons, the comparison is quite close, though one does have to factor in that Brown primarily played 12 or 14-game seasons, thus Payton had more games in which to compile his numbers; on a per-game basis, Brown clearly reigns supreme.
My Thoughts
I consider Jim Brown and Walter Payton to be the two greatest running backs in NFL history – MVPs, All-Pros, and perennial 1,000-yard rushers/Pro Bowlers; as dominant and consistent as Payton was, however, I have to give the advantage here to Brown. He was a man among boys during his era and who knows how many yards he would have put up if he had played longer? Hypothetically, if we assumed 190 regular season NFL games played for Brown (like Payton) and averaged 100 rushing yards per game (so about five yards less than his actual career average), that would imply ~19,000 career rushing yards! Even with his early retirement to pursue an acting career, Brown is in my shortlist for greatest NFL player ever, right up there with the likes of Jerry Rice, Tom Brady, and Lawrence Taylor, and with Payton not too far behind.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Jim Brown
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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