Hugh "Bones" Taylor — Hot Starting Deep Threat

By John Turney 

Hugh Taylor

he Rams' Puka Nacua set the NFL world on fire in his first two NFL games, breaking a number of individual and team rookie records and becoming the league's first-ever player with 10 catches and 100 yards receiving in each of his first two contests.

A fifth-round draft choice, Nacua holds the rookie mark for most receptions in his first two career games (25), as well as catches in a single game (15), and he ranks third in most yards receiving (266) in his first two games. Only Anquan Boldin (279 in 2003) and Hugh "Bones" Taylor (291 in 1947) had more.

Whoa, wait. "Bones" who? 

"Bones" Taylor, that's who.

He was a 6-foot-4, 194-pound end who finished his collegiate career at Oklahoma City College. You've heard of that school, right? Actually, it was where Taylor hung his hat after his World War II military service. He began college at Tulane but, after his time in the Navy, didn't return to finish college.

So OCC it was.

"Bones" played for Washington, and had eight receptions for 212 yards in first NFL game vs. the Eagles at Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium. The Redskins lost,  45-42, but not after a furious fourth-quarter rally when Hall-of-Famer Sammy Baugh started to pitch the ball to the tall, skinny rookie, connecting for Taylor's second and third touchdowns of the afternoon.

That was 1947. Yet, here we are ... 76 years later ... and Taylor's 212 yards are second only to Boldin's 217 in 2003 as the most by a rookie in his first NFL game. Plus, Taylor had three scores to Boldin's had two.

One weekend later in Washington, Baugh found Taylor three more times for 79 yards ... and the rookie caught his fourth touchdown pass of the season, pushing his two-game total to 11 receptions for 291 yards (26.5 average) and four touchdowns. So, while Nacua obliterated Earl Cooper's 19-catch rookie record for receptions in his first two NFL games, he didn't beat "Bones' " total for yardage and touchdowns.

But Taylor wasn't a two-game wonder. He played eight NFL seasons, and while he didn't catch a lot of passes, he did a lot with them. Fifty-eight of his 272 receptions went for touchdowns. That's a 4.79:1 ratio, and it's noteworthy. For players with 200 or more career receptions, it's the best all-time.

You read that right. His touchdown-to-catch ratio is better than Hall of Famers such as Don Hutson or deep ball threats Paul Warfield and Bob Hayes, and it's higher than modern-era phenoms like Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. It's simply higher than everyone.

In a league with its share of touchdown-making receivers, no one was more prolific than Taylor. In fact, in the 10 years after World War II (1945-54), no one caught more touchdown passes -- not even the five Hall-of-Fame ends who were his contemporaries. 

"Bones" Taylor was a touchdown machine on a team that had just two winning seasons during his career. However, he did it catching passes from Baugh, with 1952 -- Baugh's last season when he didn't play much -- the best of Taylor's career. He caught 41 passes for 961 yards and 12 touchdowns that year and had a 23.4 yards-per-catch average. Prorate that to 17 games, and it reads 58 catches for 1,361 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Not bad. 

No, the two-time Pro Bowler never topped 1,000 yards receiving, but remember: He played 12-game seasons, and in three of those years he averaged enough yards per game to reach four digits in a 17-game schedule.

Taylor finished his career with a 19.2 yards-per-catch average, tied for 10th all-time among all players with 200 or more receptions. He was the quintessential deep threat, with the speed and, as a former All-American basketball player, the athleticism to make leaping catches over defenders. 

After retiring, Taylor went into coaching, mostly as an assistant. But he served as a collegiate head coach for a couple of years, too, before becoming head coach of the Houston Oilers in 1965 when he succeeded Baugh and the club was 4-10. In truth, though, he was better suited as a receivers coach -- tutoring young AFL and NFL pass catchers like Don Maynard, Art Powell, Lance Alworth, Charley Hennigan and Roy Jefferson.

Though Taylor never had a 1,000-yard season, look what those guys did when they were associated with him. They combined for seven such seasons, some of them far more than 1,000 yards. 

"Bones" Taylor seems to have been a wide receiver whisperer. 

So here's a shout-out to the man who's withstood 76 years of rookies challenging his two-game yardage total to begin an NFL career. Well done, "Bones" Taylor.