Tuesday Top Ten: Most Successful Heisman Trophy Winners

At last week's NFL draft, the first round was bookended by Heisman Trophy winners.  Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield -- this past season's Heisman winner -- went first overall to the Cleveland Browns, while 2016 winner -- Louisville's Lamar Jackson -- went to the former Cleveland Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, with the last pick in the first round.  It wasn't the first time two Heisman Trophy winners have been drafted in the first round of the same draft -- it happened in 2015 (Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota), 2011 (Cam Newton and Mark Ingram) -- but it got me thinking about the success of Heisman winners in the NFL.  I think both Mayfield and Jackson are great quarterbacks who have the skills to play professional football successfully for a long time.  Then again, I thought the same thing about Andrew Ware and Matt Leinart.

So with that, I decided to dig into the successes (or lack thereof) of Heisman Trophy winners to come up with the ten most successful Heisman winners.  And by "most successful," I don't mean most successful in life.  No one gives a shit about that.  I'm talking about success in the NFL. 

Of the 82 Heisman Trophy winners (and I'm including Reggie Bush, even though his was vacated), here are some interesting stats:

• Nine Heisman winners have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• Not including the six Heisman winners who are still playing in the NFL (or the last two winners, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson, who, as discussed above, were just drafted), the remaining 74 Heisman winners have had an average NFL career of 6.31 years.  This obviously doesn't take into account any time spent in the USFL or CFL, but it does include the AFL and AAFC.  All in all, it's a pretty solid average for an NFL career.
• Heisman winners, on average, have only made it to about 1.4 Pro Bowls (or All-Pro teams, if they didn't make the Pro Bowl, but somehow still made the All-Pro team, or AFL or AAFC all-star teams).
• Heisman winners have won a total of 28 Super Bowls, pre-Super Bowl era NFL or AFL Championships, or AAFC Championships, which is a measly average of .34 championships for every Heisman winner.  When you take into account multiple championships, only 18 Heisman winners have hoisted a championship trophy, which means only 22.5% of Heisman winners have played on championship teams.  In the Super Bowl era, that number is even worse, as only 10 Heisman winners have won a total of 12 Super Bowls:
• Roger Staubach (Navy, 1963; Super Bowls VI and XII)
• John Huarte (Notre Dame, 1964; Super Bowl IV)
• Mike Garrett (USC, 1965; Super Bowl IV)
• Jim Plunkett (Stanford, 1970; Super Bowls XV and XVIII)
• Tony Dorsett (Pitt, 1976; Super Bowl XII)
• George Rogers (South Carolina, 1980; Super Bowl XXII)
• Marcus Allen (USC, 1981; Super Bowl XVIII)
• Desmond Howard (Michigan, 1991; Super Bowl XXXI)
• Charles Woodson (Michigan, 1997; Super Bowl XLV)
• Reggie Bush (USC, 2005; Super Bowl XLIV)

So here are what I would consider the ten most successful Heisman winners in the NFL.  It pains me that I couldn't figure out a way to put Bo Jackson on this list, but, like I said, it's based on success in the NFL, not success in being part of the best ad campaign of the late '80s and early '90s. Anyway, here's my list, in chronological order by Heisman winning year.

1. Alan Ameche (Wisconsin, 1954)
Years in the NFL:  6
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  4
Championships:  2

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  No
After winning the Heisman in 1954, Ameche went on to have a great pro career with the Baltimore Colts, famously scoring the winning TD in the 1958 NFL Championship game -- the first NFL playoff game that ever went to sudden death overtime (aka, "The Greatest Game Ever Played").  An Achilles injury forced him to retire after six seasons, but he made the most of his time in the NFL, rushing for over 4,000 yards, catching over 100 receptions, and scoring 44 touchdowns.  He made four Pro Bowls and was key part of the Colts' back-to-back championship teams in 1958 and 1959. Had his career not been cut short by injury, he was definitely on track for a Hall of Fame career.

2.  Paul Hornung (Notre Dame, 1956)
Years in the NFL:  9
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  2
Championships:  4
Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (1986)
"The Golden Boy" was a versatile player, who played halfback and kicked in the NFL, but also played quarterback, safety, and fullback (and basketball!) while at Notre Dame.  Since 2010, an award named after him has been given to the most versatile college football player.  To this day, he is the only Heisman winner from a team with a losing record (although we all know Anthony Thompson got robbed in 1989), and he is the only person to win the Heisman Trophy, be #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, win the NFL MVP award, and be inducted into both the pro and college football halls of fame.  Hornung was a large piece of the Packers' championships in the mid '60s, although an injury kept him out of Super Bowl I, and he retired the next year after being selected in the expansion draft by the Saints.

3.  Roger Staubach (Navy, 1963)
Years in the NFL/AFL/AAFC:  11
Pro Bowl/All-Pro/All-stars:  6
Championships:  2

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (1985)
Roger Staubach has a pretty amazing story.  He won the Heisman in 1963, but then served in the Navy (including in Vietnam) after graduation.  His rookie year in the NFL wasn't until 1969, when he was 27.  Age didn't hold him back, as he started at QB in four Super Bowls for the Cowboys, winning two.  He made six Pro Bowls, and retired with the NFL's second-highest all-time passer rating.  And he invented the term "Hail Mary" when referring to a last-second pass to the endzone.

4.  O.J. Simpson (USC, 1968)

Years in the NFL/AFL:  11
Pro Bowl/All-Pro/All-stars:  5
Championships:  0

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (1985)
Before he was not murdering his ex-wife and her lover, O.J. Simpson was the best running back in the world for most of the 1970s.  The Juice was the first running back to break the 2,000-yard barrier in a season, rushing for 2,003 yards in 1973 (when it was still a 14-game season, mind you).  He led the league in rushing four times in five years, and retired second on the NFL's all-time rushing list behind only Jim Brown.

5.  Tony Dorsett (Pittsburgh, 1976)

Years in the NFL:  12
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  4
Championships:  1

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (1994)
Unless you're a Dallas Cowboys fan, Tony Dorsett is kind of one of those forgotten greats.  He wasn't as flashy as OJ Simpson or Walter Payton, but he was kind of like Emmitt Smith before Emmitt Smith -- just a solid, dependable running back.  Dorsett rushed for over 1,000 yards in eight of his first nine seasons (with the strike-shortened 1982 season being the only exception).  When he retired, he trailed only Walter Payton on the NFL's all-time rushing list.  He also hauled in 398 receptions for over 3,500 yards over his career.

6.  Earl Campbell (Texas, 1977)
Years in the NFL:  8
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  5
Championships:  0


Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (1991)
If you grew up in Houston in the late '70s or early '80s like I did, Earl Campbell was the biggest name in town.  The centerpiece in the "Luv Ya Blue" era for the Oilers, Campbell was a man among boys on the football field, punishing opposing defenders on a weekly basis and leading the NFL in rushing in each of his first three seasons.  Unfortunately, his bruising rushing style took a toll on his body, and he retired after only eight seasons.  He finished with over 9,400 yards rushing and 74 touchdowns.

7.  Marcus Allen (USC, 1981)

Years in the NFL:  16
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  6
Championships:  1

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (2003)
Marcus Allen had a 16-year NFL career, which is insane for a running back.  And it's not like he tapered off at the end of his career, either.  In his last season, he scored 11 TDs.  Allen is the only player to have won the Heisman Trophy, an NCAA national championship, the Super Bowl, and be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP.  His 74-yard touchdown run in Super Bowl XVIII is one of most memorable runs in Super Bowl History.  Allen was also the first NFL player to rush for over 10,000 yards and have over 5,000 receiving yards, and his 123 rushing TDs was an NFL record when he retired.  All of this is even more amazing if you consider that he shared the Raiders' backfield with Bo Jackson for four seasons.

8.  Tim Brown (Notre Dame, 1987)

Years in the NFL:  16
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  9
Championships:  0

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (2015)
After becoming the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy, Brown went on to become one of the most prolific receivers in NFL history.  Among other records, he holds the NFL record for most consecutive seasons with 75 or more receptions (10) and the most consecutive starts by a wide receiver (176).  He finished his career with over 1,000 receptions, nearly 15,000 receiving yards, and 100 receiving TDs (in addition to one rushing TD and four return TDs). 

9.  Barry Sanders (Oklahoma State, 1988)
Years in the NFL:  10
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  10
Championships:  0

Pro Football Hall of Fame:  Yes (2004)
In my mind, there are three and only three running backs that someone can plausibly argue is the best running back ever:  Jim Brown, Walter Payton, and Barry Sanders.  Had Sanders not retired after ten seasons, he likely would have broken Payton's all-time rushing record.  As a Bears fan, I'm okay with his early retirement, not only because he didn't break Payton's record, but also because that meant the Bears didn't have to play against Sanders twice a year.

10.  Charles Woodson (Michigan, 1997)
Years in the NFL:  18
Pro Bowl/All-Pro:  9
Championships:  1
Pro Football Hall of Fame:  No (eligible in 2020)
Woodson is the only primarily defensive player to win the Heisman (and is the last winner that wasn't a running back or quarterback), and went on to become one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.  Over his amazing 18 years in the NFL, he amassed 65 interceptions, 33 forced fumbles, 13 defensive TDs, and 20 sacks.  I expect that he will be in Canton as soon as he's eligible.