Jewish Football Players Who Have Won a Super Bowl (or an NFL Championship)

There are 18 Jewish football players who have won a Super Bowl or NFL Championship as a player.

What’s the difference between the NFL Championship and the Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl wasn’t played until 1967, a year after the National Football League (NFL) and the upstart American Football League (AFL) agreed to merge. the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The game at the time was known as The AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Tickets cost $10 and the game didn’t even sell out.

What’s the AFL?

The NFL was founded in 1920, while its competitor AFL was founded in 1959. The two leagues operated as separate entities from 1959-1970; their seasons ran simultaneously, but each league had their own playoffs and champions., with the more-established NFL considered the superior league.

What has now retroactively become known as “Super Bowl I” marked the first time that the champions of both the AFL (Kansas City Chiefs) and NFL (Green Bay Packers) met after winning their respective league championships.

It wasn’t until the fourth AFL-NFL Championship game that the words “Super Bowl” even appeared on the game ticket—that game is now known as “Super Bowl IV” and was played in January of 1970, the same year the two leagues completed their merger.

With the merger completed, the NFL teams became the National Football Conference (NFC) and the AFL teams became the American Football Conference (AFC)  in a united league called the NFL. Three NFL teams moved to the AFC following the merger: the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore (now Indianapolis) Colts and Cleveland Browns.

To confuse things even more, from 1920-1932, no NFL Championship Game was played. At the end of the season, whichever team had the best record was deemed the NFL Champion.

From 1933-1969, the NFL held playoffs to determine the champion.

Why does this matter for this article? Because six Jewish NFL players won NFL Championships before the Super Bowl era. And another two Jewish football players won a championship on an AFL team.

So what team has won the most Super Bowls? There are two ways to answer the question:

The first way is to simply count the wins from Super Bowl I onward. The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots have each won six Super Bowls. However, since the founding of the NFL, the Green Bay Packers have been champions of the league 13 times (nine NFL championships and four Super Bowls victories).

Why does the Super Bowl use roman numerals while the NFL Championships use years?

Since the Super Bowl era began (retroactively to 1967), the big game has been played in a different calendar year than the rest of the regular season. By contrast, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League play their entire regular season, playoffs and championship in the same calendar year.

History lesson over, and now a few quick facts about the Jewish football players who have won a Super Bowl (or NFL Championship).

Sid Luckman is the only Jewish quarterback to win an NFL Championship, winning four while leading the Chicago Bears.None have won a Super Bowl.

Julian Edelman is the only Jewish NFL player to win the honor of Super Bowl MVP. Edelman and teammate Nate Ebner won three Super Bowls as teammates on the Patriots. Greg Joseph and Ali Marpet won one Super Bowl as teammates with the Buccaneers.

The 1950s were the only decade when no Jewish player won an AFL or NFL Championship. The 1960s were the only decade when no Jewish player won an NFL Championship.

Offensive Tackle Ron Mix, who played with the Los Angeles  Chargers,  is the only Jewish player to ever win an AFL Championship.  That team was led by Jewish Head Coach Sid Gillman, the only Jewish head coach to win an AFL or NFL championship. .

Confused yet? Let’s just skip to the list of Jewish football players who have won a Super Bowl (or NFL Championship). 

* Denotes a pre-AFL-NFL merger NFL Championship.

# Denotes a pre-AFL-NFL merger AFL Championship.

4 RINGS: JEWISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO WON FOUR SUPER BOWLS OR NFL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Quarterback Sid Luckman won the NFL Championship in 1940, 1941,1943 and 1946 — all with the Chicago Bears.*

Tight end Randy Grossman won Super Bowl IX in 1975, Super Bowl X in 1976, Super Bowl XIII in 1979 and Super Bowl XIV in 1980 — all with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

3 RINGS: JEWISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO WON THREE SUPER BOWLS OR NFL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Guard and running back Charles “Buckets” Goldenberg won the NFL Championship with the Green Bay Packers in 1936, 1939 and 1944.*

Offensive tackle Harris Burton won Super Bowl XXIII in 1989, Super Bowl XXIV in 1990 and Super Bowl XXIX in 1995 — all with the San Francisco 49ers.

Wide receiver Julian Edelman won Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Super Bowl LI in 2017 and Super Bowl LIII in 2018—all with the New England Patriots. He was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl LIII.

Safety/Special Teamer Nate Ebner won Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Super Bowl LI in 2017 and Super Bowl LIII in 2018—all with the New England Patriots.

2 RINGS: JEWISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO WON TWO SUPER BOWLS OR NFL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Tight end John Frank won Super Bowl XIX in 1985 and Super Bowl XXIII in 1989—both with the San Francisco 49ers.

Outside linebacker Terrell Suggs won Super Bowl XLVI in 2013 with the Baltimore Ravens, and Super Bowl LIV in 2020 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

1 RING: JEWISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO WON ONE SUPER BOWL,NFL CHAMPIONSHIP OR AFL CHAMPIONSHIP:

Guard Joseph “Doc” Alexander won the NFL Championship in 1925 with the New York Giants.*

Halfback Harry Newman won the 1934 NFL Championship with the New York Giants.*

Guard Leonard “Butch” Levy won the NFL Championship in 1945 with the Cleveland Rams.*

Halfback Marshall Goldberg won the 1947 NFL Championship with the Chicago Cardinals.*

Offensive tackle Ron Mix won the American Football League championship in 1963 with the San Diego Chargers.#

Head coach Sid Gillman won the American Football League championship in 1963 with the San Diego Chargers.#

Guard Ed Newman won Super Bowl VIII in 1974 with the Miami Dolphins.

Defensive End Lyle Alzado won Super Bowl XVIII in 1984 with the Los Angeles Raiders.

Punter Josh Miller won Super Bowl XXXIX with the New England Patriots in 2005.

Tackle/Guard Alan Veingrad won Super Bowl XXVII with the Dallas Cowboys in 1993.

Offensive Tackle Mitchell Schwartz won Super Bowl LIV in 2020 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Placekicker Greg Joseph won Super Bowl LV in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Guard Ali Marpet won Super Bowl LV in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.