September 23, 2016

Highlighted Year: Otto Graham, 1946

Quarterback/Defensive Back, Cleveland Browns



Age:  25 (Dec. 6)
1st season in pro football
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 quickly adapted to the T-formation.

1946 Season Summary
Appeared in all 14 games
[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Passing
Attempts – 174 [5]
Completions – 95 [4, tied with Bob Hoernschemeyer]
Yards – 1834 [2]
Completion percentage – 54.6 [2]
Yards per attempt – 10.5 [1]
TD passes – 17 [1]
Most TD passes, game – 4 vs. Chicago 11/17
Interceptions – 5 [11, tied with Kay Eakin, Cotton Price & Walt Williams]
Passer rating – 112.1 [1]

Rushing
Attempts – 30
Yards – -125
Yards per attempt – -4.2
TDs – 1

Interceptions
Interceptions – 5 [5, tied with Steve Juzwik & Cliff Lewis]
Return yards – 102 [5]
TDs – 1 [1, tied with seven others]

Punt Returns
Returns – 12 [9]
Yards – 129 [15]
Average per return – 10.8
TDs – 0

Scoring
TDs – 2         
Points – 12

Postseason: 1 G (AAFC Championship vs. NY Yankees)
Pass attempts – 27
Pass completions – 16
Passing yardage – 213
TD passes – 1
Interceptions – 1

Rushing attempts – 3
Rushing yards – -19
Average gain rushing – -6.3
Rushing TDs – 0

Interceptions – 1
Int. return yards – 4
TDs – 0

Punt returns – 5
Punt return yards – 20
Average per return – 4.0
Punt return TDs – 0

Awards & Honors:
1st team All-AAFC: League, UPI
2nd team All-AAFC: NY Daily News

Browns went 12-2 to finish first in the AAFC Western Division while leading the league in passing yards (2266), total yards (4244), touchdowns (55), and scoring (423 points). Won AAFC Championship over New York Yankees (14-9).

Aftermath:
The Browns won all four AAFC titles with Graham behind center. He was the league MVP in 1947 as he led the AAFC in completion percentage (60.6), passing yards (2753), TD passes (25), and yards per attempt (10.2), and 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 Cleveland went undefeated. Graham led the league in passing yards (2785) once again in 1949, and while no MVP was awarded by the league, he was a consensus first-team All-AAFC selection. 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 that year and was also named league MVP by UPI in 1951, although Cleveland lost the title game. In ’52, he led the NFL in pass attempts (364), completions (181), yards (2816), and TD passes (20) as well as interceptions (24). Cleveland again lost the title game but 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. Graham was a league MVP twice and first-team All-league honoree three times in the AAFC as well as three-time MVP with four first-team All-league selections 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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Highlighted Years features players who were consensus first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the following statistical categories:

Rushing: Yards, TDs (min. 10)
Passing: Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating
Receiving: Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)
Scoring: TDs, Points, Field Goals (min. 5)
All-Purpose: Total Yards
Defense: Interceptions, Sacks
Kickoff Returns: Average
Punt Returns: Average
Punting: Average

*Leagues include NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)

**NFC/AFC since 1970