Who is better, Donald or Dawson?
Len Dawson leads with a GOAT score of 89.2 against 89.1 for Aaron Donald — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Donald vs Dawson
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Len Dawson above Aaron Donald: 89.2 vs 89.1. Len Dawson leads on Longevity, Honours. Aaron Donald leads on Dominance.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
DawsonWinner
89.2Dawson wins: Longevity, Honours
Donald
89.1Donald wins: Dominance
Candidates
Locked to American FootballShareable URL · /compare/aaron-donald-vs-len-dawson
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Len Dawson
89.2
Dawson leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Len Dawson
2. Aaron Donald
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through season 5 · Form index per season1. 🇺🇸 Len Dawson5 seasons played · career day 1,825257 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Aaron Donald5 seasons played · career day 1,82559.5 touchdowns
-76.8% vs Dawson at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Donald | 0 | 0 | 9 | 20 | 59.5 | 103 |
| 🇺🇸 Dawson | 0 | 0 | 40 | 86 | 257 | 566 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | DonaldRetired | DawsonRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Defensive Player of the Year | 3 | — |
| Super Bowl titles | 1 | 1 |
| Pro Bowls | 10 | — |
| Career sacks | 111 | — |
| All-Pro First Teams | 8 | — |
| Tackles for loss | 176 | — |
| Super Bowl MVP awards | — | 1 |
| AFL titles | — | 3 |
| Passing touchdowns | — | 239 |
| Passing yards | — | 28,711 |
| Dominance w25% | 90 | 84 |
| Peak w20% | 94 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 82 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 90 |
| Statistics w15% | 92 | 92 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Dawson89.2
Donald89.1
FAQ
Where does Donald beat Dawson?
Donald scores higher on dominance. Dawson leads on honours, longevity.
How is the Donald vs Dawson score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Donald: 89.1, Dawson: 89.2.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Donald vs Dawson. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.