Jim Brown vs Walter Payton?

Question

Who was the better player? Why?

Answer 1

This is a really good question...and one that will be debated forever probably I mean you're talking about in my opinion the two greates backs to ever play in the NFL let's take a quick look at their career awards and highlights...

Jim Brown

9x Pro Bowl selection (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965)

9x All-Pro selection (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965)

NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team

NFL 1960s All-Decade Team

3x NFL MVP (1957, 1958, 1965)

3x UPI NFL MVP (1958, 1963, 1965)

3x Pro Bowl MVP (1961, 1962, 1965)

What's truly impressive about Jim Browns accomplishments is this he was a pro-bowl and All-pro selection every year he played in the NFL, when he retired he was the all time leader in all-purpose yards (15,549), rushing yards (12,312 yards), rushing touchdowns (106), and total touchdowns (126), and he was the fastest running back to 100 touchdowns until last year (L.T. broke his mark of 93 games).  Jim Brown walked away from the game in his prime, just imagine what he would have done if he played for 4-5 more years I mean when he played the season was only 12 games long compared to the 16 game season Payton played most of his career in (think about how many yards Brown would have for in 1963 when he ran for 1,863 yards in a 12 game season you're talking about a possible 2,400 yard season based on the average of 155 yards a game).

Walter Payton

9x Pro Bowl selection (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)

9x All-Pro selection (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)

1977 NFL MVP  

1985 NFC Player of the Year

1977 NFC Player of the Year

1977 Bert Bell Award

1978 Pro Bowl MVP

Super Bowl XX Champion

Looks kinda of similar huh, Payton took the running back position position to a new level, just like Jim Brown had done before him, and while he may have not made the pro-bowl every year of his career like Brown did only missing 4 years of career is still an impressive feat even more impressive is he only missed one game over his 13 year NFL career and just like Brown when he retired he was the NFL all-time leader in all-purpose yards (21,803), rushing yards (16,726)  rushing touchdowns (110), second in total touchdowns (125) one behind Jim Brown.

Both running backs never really had a "franchise" quaterback to work with and constantly faced 8 man fronts and were still able to dominate in their time, however I'm going have to go with Jim Brown as the better player, if Art Modell hadn't insisted on Brown reporting to camp instead of finishing the filming of the "Dirty Dozen", brown wouldn't have retired when he did and would have maybe gone on to play that 4-5 more years (just on average of 1,368 yards a season for 4 more years the length of Payton's career Brown would have run for 17,784 rushing yards, only Emmit Smith would be higher and those no telling how many touchdowns he would have scored)

Answer 2

You'd get better results comparing Payton and Barry Sanders.  Payton and Jim Brown isn't even debatable, Payton was hands down the better back.  Watch some Payton highlights and I think you'll understand why.  The guy had the perferct combination of speed, strengh and quickness.  He could run inside, he could run outside, he could run around, he could run through you.  He used to break peoples ankles with his moves leaving them looking for their jockstrap on the field.

Answer 3

Walter. Walter was the best all around player ever. People who want to compare Walter and Barry Sanders is a joke. Walter was a devastsating blocker and never ran backwards. Sanders was a runner, Walter was a football player.