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Lanier vs Pace

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
LanierWinner
86.4

Lanier wins: no category outright

Pace
86.4

Pace wins: no category outright

Candidates
Locked to American Football

Shareable URL · /compare/willie-lanier-vs-orlando-pace

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Willie Lanier
86.4

Lanier leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories. Super Bowl IV champion and the first Black middle linebacker to be a league star.

1. Willie Lanier
86.4
2. Orlando Pace
86.4

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. 🇺🇸 Orlando Pace5 seasons played · career day 1,825357 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Willie Lanier5 seasons played · career day 1,825342 touchdowns
-4.2% vs Pace at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Lanier0050109342665
🇺🇸 Pace0055118357701

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.

MetricLanierRetiredPaceRetired
Super Bowl titles11
Pro Bowls87
Interceptions27
First-team All-Pro selections63
Seasons played1113
Games started169
Dominance w25%8686
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%8282
Honours w20%8686
Statistics w15%8686

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Lanier86.4
Pace86.4
The people
Lanier
Pace

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Make your case for Lanier vs Pace. 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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