Best quarterback/wide receiver duos in NFL history
By Staff
15. Len Dawson and Otis Taylor
The Pittsburgh Steelers made Len Dawson the fifth-overall pick in the 1967 NFL Draft, but he never really got a chance. He only played in 19 games for Pittsburgh in three years before moving on to spend two years with the Cleveland Browns and a year with the Dallas Texans, during which he led them to an AFL Championship.
By 1963, Dawson had ended up with the Kansas City Chiefs, and that was finally the right fit Dawson needed. He ended up playing the next 13 seasons with Kansas City before retiring in 1975.
During Dawson’s third year with Kansas City, the Chiefs spent a fourth-round draft pick on a wide receiver named Otis Taylor from Prairie View.
It took a season for Dawson and Taylor to get on the same page, but they hit their stride in 1966. Taylor hauled in 58 catches for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns. Dawson finished the campaign with 2,527 passing yards and a league-leading 26 touchdown passes.
At 6-foot-3, 215 lbs, Taylor had legitimate size that could have made him a threat even in today’s NFL. He led the league with 11 touchdown catches in 1967, but that would end up being his career high as he never broke double digits again.
The magical year proved to be 1969 because not only did the United State put someone on the moon, but Dawson and Taylor were over the moon after leading the Chiefs to an AFL Championship.
Dawson retired in 1975 at 40 years old with 239 career touchdown passes. And 46 of those touchdowns Dawson threw accounted for 80 percent of the 57 touchdowns Taylor ended up with when he retired the same year.
You could say the two were so in sync that they couldn’t bare to play another year without each other.