Position | Wide Receiver / Running Back
Born | Grand Prairie, Texas
Date-of-Birth | September 28, 1941
Died | February 19, 2022 (age 80)
Height | 6’3″
Weight | 210 lbs
College | Arizona State
NFL Career | 13 seasons Teams | Washington Redskins 1964-1977
Career Highlights
- First-round pick (3rd overall) of the Washington Redskins in the 1964 NFL Draft
- NFL Rookie of the Year (1964) — as a running back
- 2x NFL receiving champion (1966, 1967) — his first two years as a receiver
- Retired as the NFL’s all-time leading receiver (649 catches)
- Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee (1984)
- NFL 1960s All-Decade Team
- Washington Redskins Ring of Fame
- 90 Greatest Commanders
- 3x Super Bowl champion as Washington’s wide receivers coach (XVII, XXII, XXVI)
Awards
- 8x Pro Bowl (1964-1967, 1972-1975)
- First-team All-Pro (1967)
- 5x Second-team All-Pro (1964, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974)
- 2x NFL receptions leader (1966, 1967)
Charley Taylor Was A Superstar in Two Different Positions
Charley Taylor holds a distinction almost no one else in NFL history can claim: he was one of the best rookies in the league at running back, then became one of the best players in the league at an entirely different position. Most players spend a career mastering one job. Taylor mastered two.
An Explosive Start at Halfback
Washington made Taylor the third overall pick in the 1964 NFL Draft, and he wasted no time proving it was the right call. As a rookie halfback, he rushed for 755 yards and caught 53 passes out of the backfield for 814 more — a reception total that set an NFL record for running backs at the time.
He was the first rookie in 20 years to finish in the league’s top 10 in both rushing and receiving in the same season.
He won NFL Rookie of the Year honors for his trouble.
The Move Nobody Saw Coming
Everything changed in 1966. New head coach Otto Graham inherited a Redskins team that hadn’t posted a winning season in a decade, and he made a bold call midway through that year: he moved Taylor from the backfield to split end. Taylor wasn’t thrilled about it at first — he’d built his identity as a ball carrier.
The results changed his mind fast. He led the NFL in receptions that season with 72 catches for 1,119 yards and 12 touchdowns, then did it again the following year with 70 catches.
Bobby Mitchell, the veteran receiver Taylor shared a receiving corps with, watched the transition up close.
“Charley made the transition quite well,” Mitchell said years later.
It’s a modest way to describe a switch that most players never pull off at all — going from a Rookie of the Year runner to a receiving champion inside three seasons.
Who would know better than Mitchell who did the same thing when he was traded from Cleveland?
Setting the Standard for a Decade
Taylor spent the next nine seasons as one of the most reliable targets in football, catching 50 or more passes in a record-tying seven separate campaigns. He made eight Pro Bowls, earned first-team All-Pro honors in 1967, and by his retirement after the 1977 season, his 649 career receptions stood as the NFL’s all-time record.
His influence extended past his own stat line. Roy “Sweet Pea” Jefferson, who caught passes in Washington from 1971 to 1976, credited Taylor directly with sharpening his own route-running. “Charley could stop on a dime,” Jefferson said, describing what he had to learn just to keep up.
Life After Playing
Taylor sat out the entire 1976 season with a knee injury before returning for one final year in 1977.
He didn’t go far after retiring — Washington brought him on as wide receivers coach in 1981, a role he held for 13 seasons. In that capacity, he added three more championships to his résumé, helping coach Washington to Super Bowl wins in XVII, XXII, and XXVI.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted Taylor in 1984, and the honors kept coming long after: a spot on the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade Team, induction into Washington’s Ring of Fame, and a place among the franchise’s 90 Greatest.
He died in 2022 at age 8.
He left behind a career arc that few could ever hope to top – one that started as a Rookie of the Year running back and ended as the most productive receiver the NFL had ever seen.
Career Statistics
| Team | Year | G | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Rush Yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 1964 | 14 | 53 | 814 | 15.4 | 5 | 755 |
| Washington | 1965 | 13 | 40 | 577 | 14.4 | 3 | 402 |
| Washington | 1966 | 14 | 72 | 1,119 | 15.5 | 12 | 262 |
| Washington | 1967 | 12 | 70 | 990 | 14.1 | 9 | 0 |
| Washington | 1968 | 14 | 48 | 650 | 13.5 | 5 | -3 |
| Washington | 1969 | 14 | 71 | 883 | 12.4 | 8 | 24 |
| Washington | 1970 | 10 | 42 | 593 | 14.1 | 8 | 17 |
| Washington | 1971 | 6 | 24 | 370 | 15.4 | 4 | 0 |
| Washington | 1972 | 14 | 49 | 673 | 13.7 | 7 | 39 |
| Washington | 1973 | 14 | 59 | 801 | 13.6 | 7 | -7 |
| Washington | 1974 | 14 | 54 | 738 | 13.7 | 5 | -1 |
| Washington | 1975 | 14 | 53 | 744 | 14.0 | 6 | 0 |
| Washington | 1976 | Did not play — injured (knee) | |||||
| Washington | 1977 | 12 | 14 | 158 | 11.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Career Total | 13 seasons | 165 | 649 | 9,110 | 14.0 | 79 | 1,488 |
G = Games played, Rec = Receptions, Yds = Receiving yards, Y/R = Yards per reception, TD = Receiving touchdowns, Rush Yds = Rushing yards. Taylor also scored 11 rushing touchdowns over his career (442 carries), primarily during his first three seasons at halfback before converting to split end in 1966. Stats via Pro Football Reference.
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