Age: 26 (Dec. 6)
2nd season in pro football & with Browns
College: Northwestern
Height: 6’1” Weight: 190
Prelude:
A single-wing tailback in college, Graham chose to sign with the Browns of the new AAFC rather than the NFL Detroit Lions, who had drafted him in the first round in 1944, after coming out of the Navy. An outstanding athlete, he first played pro basketball before joining the Browns for the 1946 season. Mobile and an accurate passer, Graham threw for 1834 yards as a rookie and led the AAFC with 17 TD passes as the Browns won the league championship.
1947 Season Summary
Appeared in all 14 games
[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 269 [2]
Completions – 163 [2]
Yards – 2753 [1]
Completion percentage – 60.6 [1]
Yards per attempt – 10.2 [1]
TD passes – 25 [1]
Most TD passes, game – 3 at Buffalo 11/2, vs. San Francisco 11/16, at Baltimore 12/7
Interceptions – 11 [7, tied with Bob Hoernschemeyer]
Passer rating – 109.2 [1]
Rushing
Attempts – 19
Yards – 72
Yards per attempt – 3.8
TDs – 1
Interceptions
Interceptions – 1
Return yards – 0
TDs – 0
Punt Returns
Returns – 10 [9, tied with Bill Bass & Earle Parsons]
Yards – 121 [11, tied with Andy Dudish]
Average per return – 12.1
TDs – 0
Scoring
TDs – 1
Points – 6
Postseason: 1 G (at NY Yankees, AAFC Championship)
Pass attempts – 21
Pass completions – 14
Passing yardage – 112
TD passes – 0
Interceptions – 0
Rushing attempts – 4
Rushing yards – 21
Average gain rushing – 5.3
Rushing TDs – 1
Awards & Honors:
AAFC MVP: League
1st team All-AAFC: League, AP, NY Daily News
Browns went 12-1-1 to finish first in the Western Division while leading the AAFC in total offense (5547 yards), passing offense (2990), scoring (410 points), and touchdowns (56). Defeated New York Yankees for AAFC Championship (14-3).
Aftermath:
The Browns won AAFC titles again in 1948 and ’49, and Graham led the league in passing yards in both seasons (2753 and 2713 yards), as well as completion percentage (60.6) and TD passes (25) in ’48, when he was the AAFC co-MVP with San Francisco’s Frankie Albert. He was a consensus first-team All-AAFC selection both years. The Browns moved to the NFL in 1950 and won another championship. They lost title games in 1951 and ’52, but Graham was a consensus first-team All-Pro in ’51 and led the league in pass attempts (364), completions (181), yards (2816), and TD passes (20) as well as interceptions (24). Cleveland won the Championship games following the 1954 and ’55 seasons (the latter after Graham was coaxed out of retirement to play one more year) and he led the league in completion percentage in each of his last three years as well as yards (2722) and yards per attempt (10.6) in 1953, and TD percentage (8.1) and yards per attempt (9.3) in ’55. Altogether, over 10 seasons (four in the AAFC, 6 in the NFL) Graham averaged 9.0 yards per attempt (a record 8.6 in the NFL alone) while throwing for 23,584 yards (10,085 in AAFC, 13,499 in NFL) with 174 TDs (86 in AAFC, 88 in NFL). He also ran for 882 yards and scored 44 TDs, with a high of 8 in 1954. He was a first-team All-league selection three times in the AAFC as well as three more times in the NFL and was chosen for the first five Pro Bowls. Perhaps most significantly of all, he quarterbacked Cleveland to a championship game in all ten years, winning seven of them. The Browns retired his #14 and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1965.
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MVP Profiles feature players who were named MVP or Player of the Year in the NFL, AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974), or USFL (1983-85) by a recognized organization (Associated Press, Pro Football Writers Association, Newspaper Enterprise Association, United Press International, The Sporting News, Maxwell Club – Bert Bell Award, or the league itself).
[Updated 2/10/14]
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