Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 86
- Honours
- 96
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Touchdowns per season
| Season | Touchdowns per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | 50 | |
| 1959 | 59 | |
| 1960 | 69 | |
| 1961 | 78 | |
| 1962 | 88 | |
| 1963 | 97 | |
| 1964 | 91 | |
| 1965 | 84 | |
| 1966 | 78 | |
| 1967 | 72 | |
| 1968 | 65 | |
| 1969 | 59 | |
| 1970 | 53 | |
| 1971 | 46 | |
| 1972 | 40 |
Data sources
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Pro Football Reference
- NFL official records
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Ray Nitschke ranks #16 in American Football
Ray Nitschke ranks 16th among American Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 1344th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 90.4 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 94, Longevity 86, Honours 96, Statistics 88. 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 1958–1972 with 15 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1963, which sets the Peak component at 94. Honours is the defining strength of the profile at 96 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes nfl titles 5, super bowl titles 2, career interceptions 25, championship game mvp awards 1.
Immediately ahead sits Larry Fitzgerald on 90.4, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Forrest Gregg on 90.3. 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.
Ray Nitschke GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Nitschke stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full American Football cohort.
- Peak94/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1963. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity86/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 14 years of competition and 15 recorded seasons. Scored 86/100.
- Honours96/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 96/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Nitschke comparisons
Ray Nitschke — frequently asked
- Is Ray Nitschke the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Ray Nitschke ranks 16th in American Football with a GOAT Score of 90.4, behind Tom Brady on 97.2.
- What is Ray Nitschke's GOAT Score?
- 90.4 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 86 (20%), Honours 96 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Ray Nitschke rank all time?
- 1344th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 16th within American Football.
- Ray Nitschke vs Larry Fitzgerald: who ranks higher?
- Ray Nitschke, on 90.4 against Larry Fitzgerald's 90.4 — a margin of 0.0 points.