Only four players in football history have won both the Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP, and the last one to do it was Desmond Howard nearly three decades ago.
Roger Staubach, Jim Plunkett, Marcus Allen, and Howard form one of the sport’s most exclusive clubs, and with no Heisman winners on either Super Bowl 60 roster, that number won’t grow anytime soon.
What makes this list so fascinating isn’t just its brevity. It’s the wildly different paths these four took to get there.
Roger Staubach
Super Bowl 6 (1972)
Roger Staubach won the Heisman at Navy in 1963, then served four years in the military, including a tour in Vietnam, before joining the Dallas Cowboys. He didn’t become a full-time starter until 1971, eight years after his Heisman season. Once he took over, the results were immediate.
Staubach led Dallas to a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl 6, completing 12 of 19 passes for 119 yards and 2 touchdowns. He became the first Heisman winner to be named Super Bowl MVP and went on to start four Super Bowls, winning two.
Jim Plunkett
Super Bowl 15 (1981)
Jim Plunkett’s road was the roughest of the four. The 1970 Heisman winner out of Stanford went first overall to the New England Patriots in 1971 and struggled through five seasons before being traded to the San Francisco 49ers. After two years there, he was released.
The Raiders signed him as a backup in 1978, and he barely saw the field over his first two seasons in Oakland. When starter Dan Pastorini broke his leg in Week 5 of 1980, Plunkett stepped in and guided the Raiders to a 27-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 15, throwing for 261 yards and three touchdowns.
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“It was ecstasy to tell you the truth,” Plunkett said. “Finally getting into the playoffs and winning three games to get in that Super Bowl as a wild card, I was just in heaven during that time. Here I am struggling, I was out of football for a few days before the Raiders picked me up, and now all of a sudden, I’m in the playoffs trying to win a Super Bowl.”
He remains the first and only Latino to be named Super Bowl MVP, and later led the Raiders to a second title in Super Bowl 18.
Marcus Allen
Super Bowl 18 (1984)
Marcus Allen’s performance in Super Bowl 18 remains one of the greatest individual showings in the game’s history. The 1981 Heisman winner from USC ran for a then-record 191 yards on 20 carries, including a 74-yard touchdown that was the longest run in Super Bowl history at the time.
The LA Raiders routed Washington 38-9. Allen stands alone as the only player ever to win a Heisman, a national championship, a Super Bowl, the Super Bowl MVP, and the NFL’s regular-season MVP.
Desmond Howard
Super Bowl 31 (1997)
Desmond Howard closed the list, and it hasn’t been reopened since. He won the 1991 Heisman at Michigan as a wide receiver, but by the time he reached Super Bowl 31 with the Green Bay Packers, he’d reinvented himself as a return specialist.
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After the New England Patriots scored late in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 6, Howard fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 1-yard line and ran it back 99 yards for a touchdown that sealed the 35-21 victory. His 244 combined return yards made him the first special teams player to win Super Bowl MVP.
Why No Heisman Winner Has Joined the List Since 1997
The drought now stretches 29 years and counting. Cam Newton started Super Bowl 50 for the Carolina Panthers after winning the 2010 Heisman at Auburn, but was outplayed by Denver’s dominant defense in a 24-10 loss.
Joe Burrow, the 2019 winner from LSU, got the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl 56 but fell short against the Los Angeles Rams. DeVonta Smith, the 2020 Heisman winner from Alabama, has played in two Super Bowls with the Philadelphia Eagles, winning a ring in the Eagles’ 40-22 rout of Kansas City in Super Bowl 59, but Jalen Hurts earned the MVP nod that night.
A combined 12 Heisman winners have won 14 Super Bowls, per the Heisman Trust. Plenty of Heisman winners have gotten rings. The distinction between winning a championship and being named the best player in that championship game is what keeps this club so small.
Super Bowl 60 between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots won’t add to the count, with neither roster featuring a former Heisman winner. Given the rarity of the accomplishment and the specific circumstances required to pull it off, the wait for a fifth name could stretch considerably longer.
