Bills Ex & Patriots Super Bowl Champ Charles Johnson Dead at 50

Johnson’s playing days ended with the Bills in 2002.

Charles Johnson, the Super Bowl champion wide receiver who played the last of his nine NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills, died this week at age 50.

Johnson’s cause of death is unknown, according to CBS 17 in Wake Forest, North Carolina, where the former first-round pick of the Steelers in 1994 was working as the assistant athletic director at Heritage High School.

“RIP Coach,” the team tweeted Tuesday morning. “You will be missed by so many, especially your Husky family.”

Johnson, a native of California and a star at the University of Colorado, experienced a series of highlight moments on all of his NFL stops.

In Pittsburgh, he had a career-high 1,008 receiving yards during the 1996 season. Today he ranks 16th all-time among Steelers receivers.

In Philadelphia, Johnson served as a starter and played two seasons, and in 2000 with the Eagles scored seven touchdowns, which tied his career high.

The season after that Johnson came to the AFC East, as he was a member of the 2001 New England Patriots, the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship team. Johnson’s biggest contribution to that New England run - keyed in part by a young QB named Tom Brady - came when he caught two passes in the AFC Championship Game win over his first team, the Steelers. 

Johnson’s playing days ended with the Bills in 2002, and in total over the course of his fine career he caught 354 passes for 4,606 yards and 24 touchdowns in 133 games.

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