Teams
- St. Louis Cardinals (1961-1969)
- Houston Oilers (1970-1971)
- Denver Broncos (1972-1975)
Accolades
- 1x Pro Bowl (1963)
“He taught us how to win.”
—Haven Moses, Wide Receiver, Denver Broncos (source)
Charley Johnson. One of the truly great forgotten entities in NFL history. He played for an astounding 15 seasons, and, for the most part, was pretty productive. Despite spending the bulk of his career for the Cardinals, Oilers, and Broncos, three organizations known for losing more than winning before he played for them, he finished his career, as a starter, two games above .500. Yet, those same franchises never helped him reach the postseason. Guy was no academic schlep either, but I’ll get to that later. In the meantime, let’s sit down with the man and enjoy and ice cold Miller Lite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuF4_AIhOu4
Not exactly a sexy choice coming out of college, Charley Johnson was taken by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 10th round of the 1960 NFL draft. Backing up Sam Etcheverry and Ralph Gugliemi in ’61, he only threw 13 passes, two of which found the hands of his opponents. Yet, Head Coach Wally Lemm would give the untested young Texan a shot in ’62, starting 10 of 14 games. While the Cardinals went an unattractive 3-6-1 in his starts, 16 TD passes and three more on the ground were difficult to ignore. And when Johnson started all 14 games in 1963, the Cardinals went 9-5, their best record since 1948 when they made it to the NFL championship game. Charley Johnson would lead the league in pass attempts and throw for over 3,200 yards with 28 passing TDs that year, leading to his first (and only) Pro Bowl nod.
Finishing two games out of first in ’63, Johnson and the Cards would try to best that the following year. They did, going 9-3-2. The QB would lead the league in passing yards (3,045), completions, and attempts for the second consecutive year. Taking away from some of the season’s amazing luster was Johnson’s league-leading 24 picks, and the Cardinals would finish one game short of first place and a championship game berth.
In ’65 and ’66, Johnson would start the majority of the Cardinals games, but the team would not experience the same success of the prior two seasons. In 1965, the Redbirds would go 5-6 with Johnson as starter, but 0-3 without him. But most devastatingly, in 1966, St. Louis would start 7-1-1 before their starter went down with a season-ending injury. They would go 1-4 the rest of the way towards an 8-5-1 record, two games out of first place. Charley Johnson would serve primarily as back-up to Jim Hart the following two seasons, his inevitable replacement in the Gateway to the West. His last season for St. Louis came in 1969 where he would start nine games, with the Cards going an unmemorable 2-6-1 during those games.
The next two years would be spent in Houston, mentoring rookie Dan Pastorini behind a notoriously lousy offensive line. In 14 starts over two seasons, the Oilers would go 3-11 with Charley Johnson taking snaps. With his best years seemingly behind him, Johnson would move on to Denver in 1972. A below-average Broncos team would go 5-9 overall that year, but manage a more impressive 4-5 record in Johnson’s starts. This semblance of success would guide second-year skipper John Ralston to name the Houston castaway as the starter in 1973. At age 35, Johnson would shock the league, leading Denver to a 7-5-2 record, the franchise’s best record, and first winning season, since its founding as an AFL charter member in 1960. Johnson would throw for 2,465 yards, his best since his 3,000+ yard performance in 1964, and would finish third in the NFL in passing yards. But Denver would still finish two games out of the Wild Card spot.
In 1974, the Broncos would go 6-5-1 under Johnson, finishing 7-6-1 overall. Charley Johnson would lead the league with 8.1 yards per passing attempt. But it would come to an end in 1975. Despite a 2-0 start, Denver would go 1-3 the next four games under Johnson where he would then be replaced by Steve Ramsey and John Hufnagel. The Broncos would go 3-5 the rest of the way to a 6-8 final mark. After the season, Charley Johnson would retire. Two years later they would reach their first Super Bowl with Craig Morton under Center, another multi-team castaway like Johnson.
Charley Johnson had a similar career trajectory to Craig Morton, coincidentally #84 on this list. He started out as a back-up, became immediately successful as a starter, was replaced by another player, spent a couple years starting for a team in no-man’s land, then had an end-of-career Renaissance in Denver. Unlike Morton, who frequently tasted the postseason and even started two Super Bowls, Charley Johnson continually fell just short. But Johnson’s greatest successes weren’t even on the football field. They were in the classroom where he graduated from New Mexico State with a 4.0 in chemical engineering, followed by obtaining a Master’s and Ph.D. in the same field from Washington-St. Louis, all while still playing pro football. His successes continued in service to his country where he obtained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. And his successes continue further in the business field, founding Johnson Compression Services. Ultimately, he finished his career as head of NMSU’s Department of Chemical Engineering, before truly retiring in 2012. Wow. So if you ever bump into NFL great Charley Johnson, make sure you buy him a well-deserved, ice cold Miller Lite.
Deviation Chart
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 0.005 | 0.014 | 0.000 | 0.026 | 0.040 | -0.012 | 0.013 | 0.009 |
| Playoffs | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Longevity Bonus = 1.1 Title Bonus = 0.0
Index Score = 1.693 (average QB = 0.0)
Deviation Rank (out of 155)
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 88th | 50th | 77th | 96th | 36th | 109th | 80th | 97th |
| Playoffs | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Why is he on the Top 100 list?
Charley Johnson was at least as good, if not better, than the average quarterback of his era in seven of eight categories. He places in the Top 50 in two categories. First off, helped by his league-leading 8.1 yards/attempt in ’74, Johnson ranks 36th overall in average of yards/completion + yards/attempt average. He also finishes 50th in total yards per game, thanks in part to leading the NFL in passing yards in ’64.
Why isn’t he higher on the list?
His only bottom 50 appearance is in completion percentage, in which he falls 109th overall. The absence of playoff appearances also eliminated any impact, positive or negative, on his overall ranking. Ultimately, he was not exceptional in any facet of the game, and his final ranking is served by overall competence, especially considering taking over for franchises coming off of numerous poor seasons.
The Quarterback Project 