Category profile
- Dominance
- 84
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 88
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 90
Career timeline · Touchdowns per season
| Season | Touchdowns per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 60 | |
| 1963 | 67 | |
| 1964 | 74 | |
| 1965 | 82 | |
| 1966 | 89 | |
| 1967 | 96 | |
| 1968 | 90 | |
| 1969 | 84 | |
| 1970 | 77 | |
| 1971 | 71 | |
| 1972 | 65 | |
| 1973 | 59 | |
| 1974 | 52 | |
| 1975 | 46 | |
| 1976 | 40 |
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 Merlin Olsen ranks #108 in American Football
Merlin Olsen ranks 108th among American Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 1845th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 87.7 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 84, Peak 92, Longevity 88, Honours 86, Statistics 90. 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 1962–1976 with 15 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1967, which sets the Peak component at 92. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 92 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes pro bowl selections 14, first-team all-pro selections 5, defensive player of the year awards 1, career games 208.
Immediately ahead sits O.J. Simpson on 87.7, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Walter Payton on 87.6. 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.
Merlin Olsen GOAT Score explained
- Dominance84/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Olsen stood above the field while competing. Scored 84/100 against the full American Football cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1967. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity88/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 14 years of competition and 15 recorded seasons. Scored 88/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics90/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 90/100.
Top Olsen comparisons
Merlin Olsen — frequently asked
- Is Merlin Olsen the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Merlin Olsen ranks 108th in American Football with a GOAT Score of 87.7, behind Tom Brady on 97.2.
- What is Merlin Olsen's GOAT Score?
- 87.7 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 84 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 88 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 90 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Merlin Olsen rank all time?
- 1845th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 108th within American Football.
- Merlin Olsen vs O.J. Simpson: who ranks higher?
- Merlin Olsen, on 87.7 against O.J. Simpson's 87.7 — a margin of 0.0 points.