Tag: HOF QB Sonny Jurgensen

Commanders season opener in 42 days: Washington’s best No. 42

42 Pro Football Hall of Famer Charley Taylor days away from the Commanders opening the 2023 season.

Commanders Wire continues a countdown to the Commanders season opener for 2023 in 42 days. Who was Washington’s best player wearing number 42?

On June 1, 1978, Washington Redskins receiver Charley Taylor announced his retirement from the NFL.

Since that day, though Taylor’s jersey was never retired, no Washington player has yet to wear No. 42 in a regular season NFL game.

Taylor came to Washington in 1964, a first-round draft choice out of Arizona State. He had played running back for the Sun Devils and continued to play running back his first three seasons in Washington (1964-66).

When Otto Graham, a former Cleveland Browns quarterback, became the Washington head coach (1966-68), Graham made a move that changed NFL history. During the 1966 season, Graham switched Taylor to wide receiver.

Instantly Taylor led the NFL in receptions in his first two seasons at receiver with 72 in 1966 and 70 in 1967. Pairing Taylor and Bobby Mitchell outside with Sonny Jurgensen at quarterback for the Washington offense was exciting.

Taylor had been a Pro Bowler at running back his first two seasons, and Graham thought he could be even better at receiver. Graham was certainly correct, and Taylor became a Pro Bowler again in 1966 and was an All-Pro first-team receiver in 1967.

Taylor’s last largely productive season as a pass catcher was the 1969 season, Vince Lombardi’s lone season as Washington’s head coach. Catching 71 passes for 883 yards and eight receiving touchdowns, Taylor was voted All-Pro second team.

Taylor was off to a great start in 1971 when Washington started 5-0. In the sixth game (at Kansas City), Taylor caught a pass in the first half. However, the tackle in the end zone broke his ankle, and Taylor was lost for the season, having already collected 24 receptions and four touchdowns in 5.5 games.

With George Allen becoming the head coach in 1971, the Redskins offense was much more conservative, with running back Larry Brown becoming the nucleus. Thus, Taylor caught 49, 59, 54 and 53 passes in those seasons (1972-75), still making the Pro Bowl each of those seasons.

A broken shoulder in the 1976 preseason cost Taylor his entire season. At age 36 in 1977, a lingering hamstring problem limited Taylor to only seven starts and 14 receptions, leading to his retirement in June, as he had seriously contemplated a final season in 1978.

When he announced his retirement, Charley Taylor had caught more receptions (649) than any other receiver in NFL history. This despite the fact he was a running back his first two seasons and missed another season entirely (1976).

He concluded his career amassing 9,110 receiving yards and 79 touchdowns. Though Taylor never played in a 16-game regular season, he still remains second in franchise history in receptions (649) and receiving yards (9,110) and has the most receiving touchdowns (79). Taylor also rushed 442 times for 1,488 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Charley Taylor was voted one of the 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002. After all, Taylor had already been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the class of 1984. He was an 8-time Pro Bowler and 4-Time All-Pro selection.

Upon retirement, Taylor worked in the scouting department before becoming wide receivers coach under Joe Gibbs from 1981-1992 and Richie Petitbon in 1993.

Taylor died on Feb. 19, 2022, at the age of 80.

What if George Allen were the Commanders GM in June 2023?

Remember the Over-the-Hill Gang?

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It’s almost July and the Commanders have not signed a veteran free agent whose stock has lowered following the June 1 annual cuts.

The ownership of the Commanders has not yet been settled officially, which apparently has put the team on hold to make free agent signing move.

When George Allen was head coach and general manager (1971-1977) he would stop at nothing to sign a player whenever he could. He was even worse when it came to trading for aging veterans. But that story is for another day.

Way back in 1976, Allen was anxious in June. You see, Allen’s teams had made the playoffs (only four from the conference qualified in those days) each of his first four seasons in Washington (1971-1974).

But in June of 1976, Allen had much to make him nervous. The 1975 team was his first to not make the playoffs, finishing 8-6. Sonny Jurgensen had retired following the 1974 season and Billy Kilmer was now age 36 and on the decline.

Allen had Joe Theismann who was only age 26, but Allen didn’t like Joe’s style and was content to keep Theismann inexperienced for as long as he could.

Larry Brown who had been one of the few to have rushed for 5,000 yards in five NFL seasons had been run into the ground and so banged up he was not expected back in 1976. Brown did return but only gained 56 yards in 20 carries and retired following the season.

Allen had Mike Thomas who had rushed for 919 yards as a rookie in 1975. But Moses Denson provided little hope for the future. So Allen went out and signed a free agent running back in June.

Allen had it all figured out, as he planned on making the running back his fullback. Allen would use him as a fullback for short yardage gains and also to block for Thomas.This fullback started all 14 games in that 1976 season, carrying the ball only 162 times for 572 yards (3.5 ypa).

But the fullback did block well for the halfback, Thomas. Thomas enjoyed his best career season in 1976 gaining 1,101 yards on 254 carries (4.3 ypa) and 5 touchdowns.

George Allen was a great defensive coach, but sometimes his ideas for the offense left players and coaches scratching their heads. Allen continued to start Billy Kilmer as much as he could in 1976. Kilmer was given 9 starts and struggled so at times that Allen gave Theismann the other five starts.

Yet, amazingly the team finished 10-4 earning a wild card playoff birth.

What’s that?

You say, I forgot to provide you the name of the fullback whom Allen had signed in June?

Oh, sorry about that.

John Riggins.

Ranking the top 25 players in NFL history

Did any Washington players make the list?

With the passing of Hall-of-Fame running back Jim Brown, CBS Sports decided to compile their list of the top 25 players in NFL history.

Did any of the former Washington football greats make the all-time top 25 list?

Four former Washington players have had their jersey numbers retired but only one, Sammy Baugh, might be considered as a candidate to make the all-time top 25 list. The others with jerseys retired are Hall of Famers Sonny Jurgensen and Bobby Mitchell. Also, the soon-to-be-former Washington owner Dan Snyder determined to retire the jersey of Sean Taylor, who was tragically murdered during the fourth season of his young career.

As you might have already discerned, no Washington player was voted onto the CBS Sports All-Time Top 25 in NFL History.

Here is the list of the top 25. And if you go here to the original list, you will find a brief description that they provided of each player as to why he made their list.

One thing that remains true, there is no objective way to even construct such a list. So don’t get upset about it. Simply acknowledge it for what it is… a list that results from subjective voting.

25. Bruce Matthews, OL (1983-2001)

24. Night Train Lane, DB (1948-1961)

23. Emlem Tunnell, DB (1948-1961)

22. Don Hutson, WR (1935-1945)

21. Tony Gonzalez, TE (1997-2013)

20. Gale Sayers, RB (1965-1971)

19. Rod Woodson, DB (1987-2003)

18. Alan Page, DT (1967-1981

17. Anthony Munoz, LT (1980-1992)

16. Emmitt Smith, RB (1990-2004)

15. Randy Moss, WR (1998-2010, 2012)

14. Joe Greene, DT (1969-1981)

13. Dan Marino, QB (1983-1999)

12. Aaron Donald, DT (2014-present)

11. Johnny Unitas, QB (1956-1973)

10. Joe Montana, QB (1979-1994)

9. Ray Lewis, LB (1996-2012)

8. Barry Sanders, RB (1989-1998)

7. Reggie White, DE (1985-1998, 2000)

6. Lawrence Taylor, LB (1981-1993)

5. Peyton Manning, QB (1998-2015)

4. Walter Payton, RB (1975-1987)

3. Jim Brown, RB (1957-1965)

2. Jerry Rice, WR (1985-04)

1. Tom Brady, QB (2000-2022)

Washington draft choice and Super Bowl QB dies at age 85

Joe Kapp had quite the story, and he was Ron Rivera’s college head coach.

Did you know the only quarterback to lead teams to a Rose Bowl, Grey Cup and Super Bowl was actually drafted out of college by the then-Washington Redskins?

He would later go on to become the college head coach of now current Washington Commanders head coach, Ron Rivera.

Joe Kapp who died Monday at age 85, was actually drafted by the Redskins in the 1959 NFL draft, the 209th overall selection. Twenty-three years later he became the head coach of the Cal Bears (1982-86) and one of his better defensive players was a linebacker, Ron Rivera. Rivera would play well enough as a Cal Bear he was drafted 44th overall by the Chicago Bears in the 1984 NFL Draft.

Back to Joe Kapp, the relationship between Kapp and Washington ended strangely, quite strangely. Here goes an attempt at it.

The quarterback for Washington during the previous 1958 season had been Eddie LeBaron. Perhaps Washington felt that having LeBaron they didn’t need the reigning Pacific Coast Champion Cal Bears quarterback, Kapp.

So, strange as it may seem, the legend is that after drafting Kapp, the Washington administration determined to not invite him to training camp, to not attempt to sign him. As bizarre as it sounds, it seems Washington decided to not even contact Kapp at all!

How in the world do you determine to not contact a player you drafted? What’s more when he had proven himself, leading his team to Pacific Coast Conference championship his senior season?

Consequently, Kapp pursued an opportunity to play in the Canadian Football League and play he did, making it to two Grey Cup title games, winning once.

When he returned to the NFL, it was to the Minnesota Vikings, where he led them to a 12-2 1969 record, playoff wins over the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns, before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs (23-7) in Super Bowl IV.

Back to the Redskins, two years after determining to not contact the quarterback they had drafted, Washington struggling without a good quarterback, drafted Norm Snead with the second overall selection in the 1961 NFL draft.

But after three seasons of Snead, Washington traded the former Wake Forest quarterback to Philadelphia for another quarterback you may have heard of …. Sonny Jurgensen.

Jurgensen played for Washington from 1964-74, set franchise and NFL records, and earned himself a place in the NFL Hall of Fame (class of 1983).

If Washington had contacted Kapp, perhaps might we have never enjoyed Sonny Jurgensen as a player or team radio broadcaster.