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Matson vs Smith

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MatsonWinner
87.6

Matson wins: Peak, Honours

Smith
87.5

Smith wins: Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to American Football

Shareable URL · /compare/ollie-matson-vs-bruce-smith

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Ollie Matson
87.6

Matson leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Olympic medallist who scored 73 touchdowns and made six Pro Bowls.

1. Ollie Matson
87.6
2. Bruce Smith
87.5

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. 🇺🇸 Ollie Matson5 seasons played · career day 1,826366 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Bruce Smith5 seasons played · career day 1,82557.5 touchdowns
-84.3% vs Matson at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Matson0050112270690
🇺🇸 Smith006.521.557.5106

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.

MetricMatsonRetiredSmithRetired
Olympic medals2
Career touchdowns73
Pro Bowls611
All-purpose yards12,844
Return touchdowns9
Career sacks200
Defensive Player of the Year2
All-Pro First Teams8
Super Bowl appearances4
Forced fumbles43
Dominance w25%8484
Peak w20%9288
Longevity w20%8692
Honours w20%8682
Statistics w15%9294

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Matson87.6
Smith87.5
The people
Matson
Smith

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Make your case for Matson vs Smith. 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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