Heisman Trophy winners: How many make it to the Super Bowl? Cover

Heisman Trophy winners: How many make it to the Super Bowl?

by Oddspedia Experts
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The Oddspedia team of experts analyzed the careers of every Heisman Trophy winner since 1935 to find out whether winning the award gives players a better chance of succeeding in the NFL and, most importantly, winning a Super Bowl.
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Heisman Trophy Winners: What are your chances of winning the Super Bowl?

Caleb Williams has now been announced as the 2022 winner of the highest individual honor in college football, the Heisman Trophy. The USC Trojan joins a venerable list of players dating back to 1935 and is the 38th quarterback to win the prize. There are two questions left to answer about Williams: when can he turn pro and declare for the NFL Draft, and can he translate his college success into winning the biggest prize in football – a Super Bowl and the Vince Lombardi trophy?

The first answer is simple; Caleb Williams will be eligible for the NFL Draft in 2024, and is likely to have great NCAA odds to be drafted first overall.

The second answer is more complicated. Here's what we found...

22.1% of Heisman Trophy winners make it to a Super Bowl, and 12.8% of Heisman winners win the Super Bowl. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but here’s some context. There are 32 teams, with 53 active roster players per team, and only one organisation can win the Super Bowl. That means of the 1,696 active players, just over 3% of players will win the Super Bowl each year. The odds of winning the Super Bowl in a career is thought to be around 11.9%. That means Heisman winners stand a marginally higher chance of winning a Super Bowl ring than those who don’t (12.8% vs 11.99%).


Caleb Williams’ Lombardi Trophy chances are somewhat better than his college counterparts and the best sportsbooks might offer long NFL odds on him winning one in the future… but what else does a professional career hold for Williams? Oddspedia went back to the data to find out what winning a Heisman Trophy means to a football player’s career, and whether it’s a good or bad thing to have been named the best player in college football.
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How many seasons does a Heisman Trophy Winner play?

The average length of an NFL career is only 3.3 seasons – there’s a reason why the league’s initials are said to stand for ‘Not For Long’! Does winning the Heisman mean that Caleb Williams can expect to last longer in the pro game? Here’s the list of Heisman Trophy career durations and how many seasons winners accrued:

There’s some great news for 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams – over 70% of the previous winners had above-average NFL careers! 70.72% of Heisman winners played four or more NFL seasons.

    Heisman winners with the longest careers

    USC quarterback Caleb Williams will be hoping to match the longest careers achieved by former Heisman winners. Notre Dame wide receiver Tim Brown played 17 seasons, Charles Woodson (the only defensive player in history to win the Heisman) played 18 seasons, and University of Miami legend Vinny Testaverde played an incredible 21 seasons!

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    Does a Heisman Trophy win guarantee a Hall of Fame career?

    The highest achievement in the college football game may be the Heisman Trophy, but the ultimate accolade for professional football players is the recognition of a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio and houses memorabilia from some of the biggest moments in football alongside trophies and memories from the careers of the best players of all time.

    Does the former lead to the latter? The Oddspedia experts have the answer:

    11.63% of Heisman winners have made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. While that doesn’t sound like a great deal of success: there are over 25,000 players who have played in the NFL, and only 354 players are in the Hall of Fame – just over 1.4%!

    Heisman Trophy winners like Caleb Williams are eight times more likely to make the Hall of Fame than the average NFL player.

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    Heisman Trophy Winners in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

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