Former NFL wide receiver Charles Johnson, a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers who played five seasons with the club and also won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots, has died at the age of 50, the University of Colorado, Johnson's alma mater, confirmed Wednesday.
A cause of death has not been announced.
Johnson played nine NFL seasons -- five with Pittsburgh, two with the Philadelphia Eagles, one with the Patriots and his last with the Buffalo Bills. Over his career, he had 354 receptions for 4,606 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Selected out of Colorado by the Steelers with the 17th overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, Johnson played the majority of his career in and turned in his best seasons with Pittsburgh.
From 1994 through 1998, Johnson was a starter and a contributor for Bill Cowher's Steelers, who went to the playoffs in each of Johnson's first four years with the club. Johnson, however, was on injured reserve when the Steelers advanced to Super Bowl XXX and fell to the Dallas Cowboys, 27-17. Johnson did win a Super Bowl with the 2001 Patriots, however.
During his time with the Steelers, Johnson tallied his most prominent campaigns. In 1996, he led the Steelers with 1,008 receiving yards. It was Johnson's first and only 1,000-yard campaign. Two years later, Johnson finished the 1998 season with a career-best seven touchdown catches. He also tallied a career-high 65 receptions for 815 yards that year.
Johnson moved on from Pittsburgh after the 1998 season, but stayed in the Keystone State.
He played two seasons for Philly, starting all 27 games he played and matching his career-best of seven TD catches in 2000.
In 2001, he played for an upstart Patriots squad that upset the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl with a then-fresh-faced Tom Brady at quarterback. Johnson played in 14 games that season, registering two starts, 14 catches, 111 receiving yards and one TD, which he caught from Brady in a Week 11 win over the New Orleans Saints.
Johnson finished his career in 2002 at the age of 30 with the Bills.
