by He was drafted sixth overall in the 1957 NFL Draft out of Syracuse by the Cleveland Browns. He was easily the best running back in the NFL for his entire career before retiring prematurely to try his hand at Hollywood. He made the Pro Bowl all 9 years he played in the NFL and was named to the NFL All pro team 8 times as well. His single best game total of 237 rushing yards on November 19, 1961 ranks 16th all time for a single game total.
In 1963 he ran for 1,863 yards in a 1-game season. That averages out to 133 yards a game. If you multiply that output out over todays 17 game season, it equals 2,262. Basing that on todays current rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984 with 2,105 yards, he would beat it.
In his entire career, he averaged 104.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks first all time. He is the only tailback in NFL history to average over 100 rushing yards a game for his entire career. That is unheard of by today’s NFL standards and style of pass happy play.
Jim Browns currently sits 11th all time in rushing yards with the 12,312 over 9 seasons in which most of the seasons were either 12 or 14 games each. Emmitt Smith played 15 years at an average of 1,223 yards a year for a NFL Career Record of 18,355.
If Brown would have played 15 years with his per season average of 1,368 per season times 15 seasons, his career would have finished at 20,520 yards ofr his career. We know Brown didn’t, stopping after just nine season, but the amount of “what if” stats we can list off is mind boggling.
Jim Brown had 59, 100-yard games during his career with Cleveland. The Browns went 50 – 7 – 2 in those games. It was the age-old adage that when your halfback goes for 100 yards, you win the game more times than not. Their winning percentage in those 59 games was 85%. It’s also wild to think that Brown accumulated that many 100-yard games in only 9 years, that is an average of 6.5 100-yard games per season.
Jim Brown led the NFL in rushing in eight of the nine seasons in which he played. He had 126 total touchdowns in 118 career games which averages more than one touchdown per game, which is the highest ratio in the history of the NFL. His 5.2 yards per attempt for his career ranks first all time in the history of the NFL for RBs with a minimum of 900 attempts. He never missed a game, playing in every single one though his 9 seasons.
He is the first Cleveland Browns player to rush for 1,000 yards (1,527 in 1958).
He ranks 17th on NFL All-Time Rushing Attempts List (2,359).
He ranks 8th on NFL All-Time Rushing Yardage List (12,312).
He ranks 2nd on NFL All-Time Rushing Average List (5.219).
He ranks 4th on NFL All-Time Rushing Touchdowns List (106).
He was a 3-time NFL MVP in 1957 (his rookie year), 1958 and 1965
NFL Rookie of the Year in 1957
8x First team All NFL 57-61 & 63-65
8x NFL Rushing Leader 57-61 & 63-65
5x NFL Leader in rushing touchdowns, 57,58,59,63,65
NFL Scoring Leader in 1958
1960 NFL All Decade Team
NFL 50th Anniversary All Time Team
NFL 75th Anniversary All Time Team
NFL 100th Anniversary All Time Team
Bert Bell Award in 1963
Number 44 now retired by Syracuse University
Number 32 now retired by the Cleveland Browns
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