Charley Johnson - Highlights of a 15-Year NFL Career

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A graduate of New Mexico State in 1961, Charley Johnson was a 10th round pick of the St Louis Cardinals as well the 8th pick of the the Chargers of the AFL. He signed with St. Louis as by 1962 was their starting quarterback. Made the Pro Bowl in 1963 after leading the NFL with 3045 passing yards.

Charley Johnson remained in St. Louis until 1969 and joined Houston for 3 seasons before spending the final 3 years of his career with Denver. In 1973 he led the Broncos to a 7-5-2 record, the first ever winning season in Denver’s history.

During his 15-year career he started 124 games, passed for 24410 yards and 170 touchdowns. One his best known accomplishments during his time in the NFL is the Saints and Cardinals game of 1969 where he and Saints quarterback Billy Kilmer each threw 6 touchdown passes.

Image Gallery of Charley Johnson, Quarterback 1961 to 1975

Charley Johnson of New Mexico State, quarterbacked in St Louis for 9 seasons completing over 2,000 passes for almost 15,000 yards and 108 touchdowns.

Charley Johnson, Cardinals quarterback from 1961 to 1969. Started 87 games and tossed 108 touchdowns while he was there. #64 is long-time Cardinals vet Ken Gray who played 12 seasons in St. Louis and made 6 Pro Bowls.

Charley Johnson gets some blocking help from Joe Dawkins in the 1973 game against San Diego. Johnson had a good day hitting 15 of 26 passes for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns (110.4 QB rating). The Broncos 42-28 win was their 7th of the year.

Browns Pro Bowler Bill Glass has a couple of Cardinals (Bill Triplett being one of them) between him a quarterback Charley Johnson. In 1965 Johnson passed for 2439 yards and 18 Touchdowns.

A stumbling Charley Johnson hands the ball to running back Joe Dawkins. Dawkins reportedly turned it into a 1st down. In 1972 Charley Johnson joined Denver, started 9 games and helped turn the Bronco offense into the league's 5th best in yardage.

Broncos quarterback Charley Johnson asks the crowd for quiet before a play. After 9 seasons in St Louis and 2 in Houston he joined Denver in 1973 and led the Broncos to 7 wins, the most up to that time.

1970s NFL - the Colts Mike Curtis puts the hit on Oiler quarterback Charley Johnson.

Out of New Mexico State - a youthful Charley Johnson sits on the Cardinals sideline in the early 1960s. He remained active for 15 seasons until his retirement in 1975.

Former Cardinals and Oiler quarterback joined Denver in 1973 and helped turn the Broncos into one of the NFL's highest scoring offenses that year. Here he's shown with offensive lineman Marv Montgomery.

Bob DeMarco (#61), Charley Johnson (#12), Bill Triplett (#38), Jerry Tubbs (#50), Ken Gray (#64)

The great defensive end of the Packers, willie Davis gets the last sack of his 12-year career against the Cardinals Charley Johnson during the last game of the 1969 NFL season. and while he played in a time when sacks weren't kept as an official stat, it's been determined he racked up 99½ sacks during his playing time.

Charley Johnson Football Cards

13 year veteran Charley Johnson on his 1973 Topps card. It was his 2nd season with Denver and he would lead the Broncos to their first ever winning season.

Charley Johnson Lifetime Career Statistics

Career Passing Totals
Year	Age	Team	Pos	#	Games	QBrec	Att	Comp	Cmp%	Yards	Long	TD	Int	Y/A	Rate	Sacked	Yards Lost	4QC	GWD
1961	23	STL	QB	12	4		13	5	38.5	51	16	0	2	3.9	10.9	1	10
1962	24	STL	QB	12	11	3-6-1	308	150	48.7	2440	86	16	20	7.9	65.9	17	184	1	0
1963*	25	STL	QB	12	14	9-5-0	423♦	222	52.5	3280	78	28	21	7.8	79.5	40	372	2	3
1964	26	STL	QB	12	14	9-3-2	420♦	223♦	53.1	3045♦	78	21	24♦	7.3	69.4	37	298	2	2
1965	27	STL	QB	12	11	5-6-0	322	155	48.1	2439	78	18	15	7.6	73.0	20	184	1	1
1966	28	STL	QB	12	9	7-1-1	205	103	50.2	1334	69	10	11	6.5	65.0	18	170	4♦	4♦
1967	29	STL	QB	12	5		29	12	41.4	162	36	1	3	5.6	31.8	2	10
1968	30	STL	QB	12	7	1-1-0	67	29	43.3	330	30	1	1	4.9	57.4	7	64	2♦	2
1969	31	STL	QB	12	12	2-6-1	260	131	50.4	1847	84	13	13	7.1	69.5	11	101	1	0
1970	32	HOU	QB	12	10	3-7-0	281	144	51.2	1652	63	7	12	5.9	59.8	15	124	1	1
1971	33	HOU	QB	12	14	0-4-0	94	46	48.9	592	70	3	7	6.3	48.7	8	61	1	0
1972	34	DEN	QB	12	12	4-5-0	238	132	55.5	1783	60	14	14	7.5	74.6	12	82	1	1
1973	35	DEN	QB	12	14	7-5-2	346	184	53.2	2465	62	20	17	7.1	74.9	26	177	2	2
1974	36	DEN	QB	12	14	6-5-1	244	136	55.7	1969	73	13	9	8.1♦	84.5	36	270
1975	37	DEN	QB	12	14	3-3-0	142	65	45.8	1021	90	5	12	7.2	46.7	10	79	1	1
9 seasons Cardinals					87	36-28-5	1030	2047	50.3	14928	86	108	110	7.3	69.6	153	1393	13	12
4 seasons Broncos					54	20-18-3	970	517	53.3	7238	90	5.4	52	7.5	73.1	84	608	4	4
2 seasons Oilers					24	3-11	375	190	50.7	2244	70	2.7	19	6.0	57.0	23	185	2	1
15 Year NFL Career					165	1737	1737	3392	51.2	24410	90	5.0	181	7.2	69.2	260	2186	19	17