Category profile
- Dominance
- 80
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 80
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Touchdowns per season
| Season | Touchdowns per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 55 | |
| 1982 | 65 | |
| 1983 | 75 | |
| 1984 | 85 | |
| 1985 | 95 | |
| 1986 | 88 | |
| 1987 | 80 | |
| 1988 | 73 | |
| 1989 | 65 | |
| 1990 | 58 | |
| 1991 | 50 | |
| 1992 | 43 | |
| 1993 | 35 |
Data sources
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- NFL official records
- Pro-Football-Reference
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Howie Long ranks #275 in American Football
Howie Long ranks 275th among American Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 2555th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 84.1 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 80, Peak 90, Longevity 80, Honours 86, Statistics 86. Those categories are normalised against the full American Football reference universe of 340 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1981–1993 with 13 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1985, which sets the Peak component at 90. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 90 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes super bowl titles 1, pro bowl selections 8, career sacks 84, first-team all-pro selections 2.
Immediately ahead sits Ja'Marr Chase on 84.1, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Von Miller on 84.0. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Howie Long GOAT Score explained
- Dominance80/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Long stood above the field while competing. Scored 80/100 against the full American Football cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1985. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity80/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 12 years of competition and 13 recorded seasons. Scored 80/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top Long comparisons
Howie Long — frequently asked
- Is Howie Long the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Howie Long ranks 275th in American Football with a GOAT Score of 84.1, behind Tom Brady on 97.2.
- What is Howie Long's GOAT Score?
- 84.1 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 80 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 80 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Howie Long rank all time?
- 2555th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 275th within American Football.
- Howie Long vs Ja'Marr Chase: who ranks higher?
- Howie Long, on 84.1 against Ja'Marr Chase's 84.1 — a margin of 0.0 points.