MVP Profile: Otto Graham, 1951

Quarterback, Cleveland Browns

Age:  30 (Dec. 6)

6^th season in pro football & with Browns

College: Northwestern

Height: 6’1”   Weight: 195

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. He was the league’s MVP for the first time in ’47 as he led the AAFC in overall passing as well as completion percentage (60.6), yards (2753), TD passes (25), and yards per attempt (10.2). Graham was co-MVP with San Francisco’s Frankie Albert in ’48, a season in which he once more led the AAFC in passing yards (2713) while tossing another 25 TD passes and the Browns went undefeated. The Browns won the AAFC title for the fourth straight year in 1949, and Graham led the league in passing yards (2785) and yards per attempt (9.8). While no MVP was awarded by the league, he was a consensus first-team All-AAFC selection. Graham and the Browns moved to the NFL in 1950 and kept up their winning ways by achieving another championship. Graham was selected to the Pro Bowl.

1951 Season Summary

Appeared in all 12 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Passing

Attempts – 265 [2]

Most attempts, game – 30 at San Francisco 9/30, vs. Philadelphia 11/11

Completions – 147 [2]

Most completions, game – 18 at San Francisco 9/30

Yards – 2205 [2]

Most yards, game – 277 vs. Chi. Bears 11/25

Completion percentage – 55.5 [2]

Yards per attempt – 8.3 [3]

TD passes – 17 [2]

Most TD passes, game – 4 vs. Chi. Cards 12/2

Interceptions – 16 [6]

Most interceptions, game – 3 vs. NY Giants 10/28, at NY Giants 11/18, vs. Chi. Cards 12/2

Passer rating – 79.2 [3]

200-yard passing games – 6

Rushing

Attempts – 35

Yards – 29

Yards per attempt – 0.8

TDs – 3 [15, tied with fifteen others]

Scoring

TDs – 4         

Points – 24

Postseason: 1 G (NFL Championship at LA Rams)

Pass attempts – 40

Pass completions – 19

Passing yardage – 280

TD passes – 1

Interceptions – 3

Rushing attempts – 5

Rushing yards – 43

Average gain rushing – 8.6

Rushing TDs – 0

Awards & Honors:

NFL MVP: UPI

1^st team All-NFL: AP, UPI, NY Daily News

Browns went 11-1 to finish first in the American Conference. Lost NFL Championship to Los Angeles Rams (24-17).

Aftermath:

The Browns reached the NFL title game and lost again in 1952, and Graham led the league in pass attempts (364), completions (181), yards (2816), and TD passes (20), as well as interceptions (24), and was once again named to the Pro Bowl. 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).