NFL: 25 wide receivers that should have been league MVP
By Nick Villano
NFL wide receivers that should have been league MVP: 13. Charley Hennigan, 1961
Charley Hennigan was near the end of his football journey. Things didn’t work out in the Canadian Football League, so he left the game entirely. He took a job as a biology teacher. It was time for Hennigan to put his football career behind him. Then, the AFL started. He gave football one last chance, and thank goodness he did.
Hennigan played for the Houston Oilers franchise. He brought his friend Charley Tolar with him. They became two of the best receivers ever. There are few seasons that are as great as Hennigan’s 1961 season. He broke the record for receiving yards with 1,746 in his second season in the AFL. He grew an impressive connection with George Blanda, and the two were magic on the football field.
He was the only player in the top 20 receiving yards list to have more than 20 yards per reception. He got to over 1,700 yards on just 82 receptions. This was a 14-game season after all. His 121 average per game is ridiculous.
Hennigan made things hard on cornerbacks because he had one of the best first moves in history. He worked incredibly hard to always get better, and it clearly worked as Hennigan is still probably the best wide receiver to play for the franchise.