Len Dawson
Leonard Ray Dawson
Born: June 20, 1935
Alliance, OH USA
Deceased: August 24, 2022
Kansas City, KS
Position: QB
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 190
College: Purdue
High School: Alliance (OH)
Career: 1957-1975
Drafted: 1957 in Round 1, #5 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers
Elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987
Len Dawson played from 1957 to 1975 during his career with the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Texans, Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers. Dawson threw for 28,711 yards in his career, completing 2,136 of 3,741 passes with 239 touchdowns and 183 interceptions. He also ran for 1,293 yards in 294 attempts with 9 rushing touchdowns.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Year | Team | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 4 | 2 | 50.0 | 25 | 6.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 15 | 69.8 | ||
| 1958 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 6 | 1 | 16.7 | 11 | 1.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 33.3 | 11 | 0.0 | ||
| 1959 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 7 | 3 | 42.9 | 60 | 8.6 | 1 | 14.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 32 | 113.1 | ||
| 1960 | NFL Cleveland Browns | 13 | 8 | 61.5 | 23 | 1.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 23 | 65.9 | ||
| 1961 | NFL Cleveland Browns | 15 | 7 | 46.7 | 85 | 5.7 | 1 | 6.7 | 3 | 20.0 | 17 | 47.2 | ||
| 1962 | AFL Dallas Texans | 310 | 189 | 61.0 | 2759 | 8.9 | 29 | 9.4 | 17 | 5.5 | 92 | 98.3 | ||
| 1963 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 352 | 190 | 54.0 | 2389 | 6.8 | 26 | 7.4 | 19 | 5.4 | 82 | 77.5 | ||
| 1964 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 354 | 199 | 56.2 | 2879 | 8.1 | 30 | 8.5 | 18 | 5.1 | 72 | 89.9 | ||
| 1965 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 305 | 163 | 53.4 | 2262 | 7.4 | 21 | 6.9 | 14 | 4.6 | 67 | 81.3 | ||
| 1966 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 284 | 159 | 56.0 | 2527 | 8.9 | 26 | 9.2 | 10 | 3.5 | 89 | 101.7 | ||
| 1967 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 357 | 206 | 57.7 | 2651 | 7.4 | 24 | 6.7 | 17 | 4.8 | 71 | 83.7 | ||
| 1968 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 224 | 131 | 58.5 | 2109 | 9.4 | 17 | 7.6 | 9 | 4.0 | 92 | 98.6 | ||
| 1969 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 166 | 98 | 59.0 | 1323 | 8.0 | 9 | 5.4 | 13 | 7.8 | 55 | 13 | 89 | 69.9 |
| 1970 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 262 | 141 | 53.8 | 1876 | 7.2 | 13 | 5.0 | 14 | 5.3 | 61 | 34 | 277 | 71.0 |
| 1971 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 301 | 167 | 55.5 | 2504 | 8.3 | 15 | 5.0 | 13 | 4.3 | 82 | 30 | 303 | 81.6 |
| 1972 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 305 | 175 | 57.4 | 1835 | 6.0 | 13 | 4.3 | 12 | 3.9 | 44 | 28 | 255 | 72.8 |
| 1973 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 101 | 66 | 65.3 | 725 | 7.2 | 2 | 2.0 | 5 | 5.0 | 48 | 14 | 104 | 72.4 |
| 1974 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 235 | 138 | 58.7 | 1573 | 6.7 | 7 | 3.0 | 13 | 5.5 | 84 | 25 | 199 | 65.8 |
| 1975 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 140 | 93 | 66.4 | 1095 | 7.8 | 5 | 3.6 | 4 | 2.9 | 51 | 23 | 196 | 90.0 |
| NFL | 1389 | 801 | 57.7 | 9812 | 7.1 | 57 | 4.1 | 66 | 4.8 | 84 | 154 | 1334 | ||
| AFL | 2352 | 1335 | 56.8 | 18899 | 8.0 | 182 | 7.7 | 117 | 5.0 | 92 | 13 | 89 | ||
| Totals | 3741 | 2136 | 57.1 | 28711 | 7.7 | 239 | 6.4 | 183 | 4.9 | 92 | 167 | 1423 |
Rushing:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 27 | 0 |
| 1958 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 1 | 0 |
| 1959 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 4 | 20 | 5.0 | 10 | 0 |
| 1960 | NFL Cleveland Browns | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1961 | NFL Cleveland Browns | 1 | -10 | -10.0 | -10 | 0 |
| 1962 | AFL Dallas Texans | 38 | 252 | 6.6 | 22 | 3 |
| 1963 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 37 | 272 | 7.4 | 43 | 2 |
| 1964 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 40 | 89 | 2.2 | 18 | 2 |
| 1965 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 43 | 142 | 3.3 | 40 | 2 |
| 1966 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 24 | 167 | 7.0 | 18 | 0 |
| 1967 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 20 | 68 | 3.4 | 24 | 0 |
| 1968 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 20 | 40 | 2.0 | 22 | 0 |
| 1969 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 |
| 1970 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 11 | 46 | 4.2 | 21 | 0 |
| 1971 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 12 | 24 | 2.0 | 8 | 0 |
| 1972 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 15 | 75 | 5.0 | 20 | 0 |
| 1973 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 6 | 40 | 6.7 | 13 | 0 |
| 1974 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 11 | 28 | 2.5 | 10 | 0 |
| 1975 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 5 | 7 | 1.4 | 9 | 0 |
| NFL | 71 | 260 | 3.7 | 27 | 0 | |
| AFL | 223 | 1033 | 4.6 | 43 | 9 | |
| Totals | 294 | 1293 | 4.4 | 43 | 9 |
Kicking:
| Year | Team | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 2 | 0.0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| NFL | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Year | Team | Tackle | Brup | Fum | F Rec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1959 | NFL Pittsburgh Steelers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1960 | NFL Cleveland Browns | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1962 | AFL Dallas Texans | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1963 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1964 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1965 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1966 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1967 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 6 | 4 | -6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1968 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1970 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1971 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 8 | 3 | -14 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1972 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1973 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 4 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1974 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 6 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1975 | NFL Kansas City Chiefs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| NFL | 0 | 32 | 8 | -17 | 0 | 0 | ||
| AFL | 0 | 52 | 7 | -6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 84 | 15 | -23 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| 1962 | AFL Dallas Texans | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||||
| 1963 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| 1964 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| 1965 | AFL Kansas City Chiefs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| AFL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | |
| Totals | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | |
Playing Career:
| Year | League | Team | GP | GS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | NFL | Pittsburgh Steelers | 3 | 1 |
| 1958 | NFL | Pittsburgh Steelers | 4 | 0 |
| 1959 | NFL | Pittsburgh Steelers | 12 | 0 |
| 1960 | NFL | Cleveland Browns | 2 | 0 |
| 1961 | NFL | Cleveland Browns | 7 | 1 |
| 1962 | AFL | Dallas Texans | 14 | 14 |
| 1963 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 13 |
| 1964 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 14 |
| 1965 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 12 |
| 1966 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 14 |
| 1967 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 14 |
| 1968 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 13 |
| 1969 | AFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 9 | 7 |
| 1970 | NFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 12 |
| 1971 | NFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 13 |
| 1972 | NFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 12 |
| 1973 | NFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 8 | 6 |
| 1974 | NFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 14 | 8 |
| 1975 | NFL | Kansas City Chiefs | 12 | 5 |
Awards
- AFL Hall of Fame 2nd team All-1960s Team
1969 - AFL Super Bowl MVP
1969 - AFL Super Bowl MVP
1973 - Walter Payton Man of the Year
Honors
1962 - AFL AFL All-AFL (1st Team)
1962 - AFL United Press International All-AFL (1st Team)
1962 - AFL Associated Press All-AFL (1st Team)
1964 - AFL United Press International All-AFL (2nd Team)
1964 - AFL New York Daily News All-AFL (2nd Team)
1964 - AFL Newspaper Enterprise Association All-AFL (2nd Team)
1964 - AFL Associated Press All-AFL (2nd Team)
1966 - AFL Newspaper Enterprise Association All-AFL (1st Team)
1966 - AFL Associated Press All-AFL (1st Team)
1966 - AFL New York Daily News All-AFL (1st Team)
1966 - AFL United Press International All-AFL (1st Team)
1966 - AFL AFL All-AFL (1st Team)
1968 - AFL Associated Press All-AFL (2nd Team)
1968 - AFL United Press International All-AFL (2nd Team)
1971 - United Press International All-Conference (2nd Team)
