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Hickerson vs Elway

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
HickersonWinner
86.1

Hickerson wins: Peak

Elway
86.1

Elway wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to American Football

Shareable URL · /compare/gene-hickerson-vs-john-elway

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Gene Hickerson
86.1

Hickerson leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Blocked for three Hall of Fame running backs in Cleveland.

1. Gene Hickerson
86.1
2. John Elway
86.1

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. 🇺🇸 Gene Hickerson5 seasons played · career day 1,825300 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 John Elway5 seasons played · career day 1,82585 touchdowns
-71.7% vs Hickerson at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Hickerson0050105300630
🇺🇸 Elway0072585148

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.

MetricHickersonRetiredElwayRetired
Pro Bowls69
All-Pro selections5
NFL titles1
Seasons played15
Games played202
Super Bowl titles2
Super Bowl MVP1
MVP awards1
Passing yards51,475
Fourth-quarter comebacks35
Dominance w25%8282
Peak w20%9088
Longevity w20%8688
Honours w20%8686
Statistics w15%8888

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Hickerson86.1
Elway86.1
The people
Hickerson
Elway

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Make your case for Hickerson vs Elway. 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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