Category profile
- Dominance
- 86
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 86
- Honours
- 87
- Statistics
- 87
Career timeline · Touchdowns per season
| Season | Touchdowns per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 9 | |
| 1957 | 24 | |
| 1958 | 19 | |
| 1959 | 32 | |
| 1960 | 25 | |
| 1961 | 16 | |
| 1962 | 23 | |
| 1963 | 20 | |
| 1964 | 19 | |
| 1965 | 12 | |
| 1966 | 22 | |
| 1967 | 20 | |
| 1968 | 2 | |
| 1969 | 12 | |
| 1970 | 14 | |
| 1971 | 3 | |
| 1972 | 4 | |
| 1973 | 3 |
Data sources
- NFL
- Pro Football Reference
- Olympics.com
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Johnny Unitas ranks #16 in American Football
Johnny Unitas ranks 16th among American Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 425th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 87.2 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 86, Peak 90, Longevity 86, Honours 87, Statistics 87. Those categories are normalised against the full American Football reference universe of 378 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1956–1973 with 18 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1959, 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 mvp awards 3, nfl championships 3, super bowl titles 1, pro bowls 10.
Immediately ahead sits Emmitt Smith on 86.9, a gap of -0.3 points. Directly behind is Ray Lewis on 86.6. 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.
Johnny Unitas GOAT Score explained
- Dominance86/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Unitas stood above the field while competing. Scored 86/100 against the full American Football cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1959. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity86/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 17 years of competition and 18 recorded seasons. Scored 86/100.
- Honours87/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 87/100.
- Statistics87/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 87/100.
Top Unitas comparisons
Johnny Unitas — frequently asked
- Is Johnny Unitas the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Johnny Unitas ranks 16th in American Football with a GOAT Score of 87.2, behind Tom Brady on 97.2.
- What is Johnny Unitas's GOAT Score?
- 87.2 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 86 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 86 (20%), Honours 87 (20%), Statistics 87 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Johnny Unitas rank all time?
- 425th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 16th within American Football.
- Johnny Unitas vs Emmitt Smith: who ranks higher?
- Johnny Unitas, on 87.2 against Emmitt Smith's 86.9 — a margin of 0.3 points.