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Harris vs Butkus

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
HarrisWinner
83.7

Harris wins: Longevity, Honours, Statistics

Butkus
83.6

Butkus wins: Dominance

Candidates
Locked to American Football

Shareable URL · /compare/cliff-harris-vs-dick-butkus

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Cliff Harris
83.7

Harris leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Two-time Super Bowl champion in Dallas' Doomsday Defense.

1. Cliff Harris
83.7
2. Dick Butkus
83.6

Category breakdown

Season form · Touchdowns per season

Career timeline · Touchdowns 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 · Touchdowns per season
1. 🇺🇸 Dick Butkus5 seasons played · career day 1,82518 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Cliff Harris5 seasons played · career day 1,82514 touchdowns
-22.2% vs Butkus at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Harris00131431
🇺🇸 Butkus00591826

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricHarrisRetiredButkusRetired
Super Bowl titles2
Pro Bowls68
Career interceptions29
First-team All-Pro selections4
Super Bowl appearances5
All-Pro First Teams5
Interceptions22
Fumble recoveries27
Defensive Player of the Year2
Hall of Fame inductions1
Dominance w25%8286
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%7472
Honours w20%8482
Statistics w15%8886

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Harris83.7
Butkus83.6
The people
Harris
Butkus

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Make your case for Harris vs Butkus. 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.

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