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.
--
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
