Houston Oilers (1969–1972) 1969 season Joiner graduated from Grambling in 1969 and was selected in the fourth round of the
1969 NFL/AFL draft with the 93rd overall pick by the
American Football League's
Houston Oilers. Joiner's own expectation was that he would "play a few years," qualify for an NFL
pension and then move on to another career. He was playing on offense when his rookie season was brought to an end by injury—he was tackled after making a catch in a week 7 victory over the
Denver Broncos and suffered a compound fracture of the right arm. Head coach
Wally Lemm described Joiner as a "fine young prospect" after the injury.
1970 season Joiner became an NFL player in
1970 when the Oilers joined that league as part of the
AFL–NFL merger. He had another injury setback when he broke an arm in the first
preseason game. He missed the first five
regular season games before returning to face the
San Diego Chargers, producing 5 catches for 100 yards and scoring his first professional touchdown on a 46-yard pass from
Jerry Rhome. He scored twice in a game against the
Cincinnati Bengals later in the season, one of those on a career-long 87-yard touchdown catch.
1971 season Houston moved Joiner up in their
depth chart by trading starting wide receiver
Jerry LeVias before the
1971 season; the Oilers'
general manager John W. Breen gave Joiner's performance in a preseason scrimmage as a reason for the trade. While the Oilers struggled for much of the season, they had one of the highest ranked passing attacks in the
American Football Conference (AFC) and Joiner led the team in both receiving yardage and touchdowns.
1972 season: Traded midseason Houston traded Joiner to Cincinnati six games into the
1972 season, on October 24; he and
linebacker Ron Pritchard were sent to the Bengals in exchange for
running backs
Paul Robinson and
Fred Willis. Joiner had been leading the Oilers in receptions with 16, covering 307 yards and 2 touchdowns; he had scored in his final game the day before the trade. He said, "I really didn't think it was me they were talking about. I was their leading pass receiver for two years and it really hurt me."
Cincinnati Bengals (1972–1975) 1972 season Joiner said of his new team, "You come to a new situation and you may be a little scared, but everyone here has been friendly and it's been real good," adding that he found passes from the Bengals' quarterbacks to be thrown softer and to be easier to catch. Cincinnati and Houston were scheduled to meet the Sunday after the trade. Joiner saw limited action with a single catch for 19 yards in a 30–7 win. Overall, he struggled to make an impact with his new team in
1972, catching only eight passes in eight games—he remained on the bench for the entirety of two of these. The
Cincinnati Enquirer described him as a "disappointment" who "never quite measured up."
1973 season Joiner's progress was praised by offensive assistant coach
Bill Walsh in the build-up to the
1973 season, with Walsh noting a particular improvement in accurate route running. Joiner suffered another injury setback in preseason, this time to his knee, and began the regular season on the
inactive list. Head coach
Paul Brown was impressed by his attitude as he fought to regain fitness after the injury, saying "No man ever worked harder or gave it more to get himself back in shape." Joiner returned to face the
Cleveland Browns after missing three games but was immediately injured again; he caught a 26-yard pass on the Bengals' first
play from scrimmage but suffered a fractured
collar bone while being tackled and was believed to be out for the year. Joiner returned sooner than expected, missing six further games before beginning a consecutive appearance streak that would last for over 13 years. Quarterback
Ken Anderson praised Joiner's impact, saying that having both he and Curtis on the field stretched the opposing defense, who could not
double cover both of them. Joiner finished the season with 13 catches for 134 yards from his five appearances. The Bengals were successful as a team, winning the
AFC Central division with a 10–4 record. Joiner's first playoff game ended in a 34–16 defeat to the
Miami Dolphins. The Bengals' passing attack was largely shut down, and he caught only two passes for 33 yards.
1974 season Cincinnati gave Joiner a new multi-year contract in the run-up to the
1974 season. He scored his first Bengals touchdown in week 5, a 65-yarder against Cleveland. He shared time with
Chip Myers as Curtis' partner during the year.
1975 season Brown planned to use Joiner together with Myers and second-year receiver
John McDaniel as a trio of partners for Curtis in
1975. He was the most successful of the three as the season progressed, posting new career bests of 37 receptions for 726 yards, an average of 19.6 yards per catch. On November 23, 1975, he set a Bengals then-single-game record with 200 receiving yards in a 35–23 loss to
Cleveland; it would remain his personal career high. Cincinnati won a
wild card spot in the playoffs with an 11–3 record. They again lost in the first round, this time 31–28 to the
Oakland Raiders. Joiner scored his first
postseason touchdown as the Bengals came close to rallying from seventeen points behind in the final quarter—he said, "We should have won the ball game, we just ran out of time." It was his final game as a Bengal.
San Diego Chargers (1976–1986) 1976 season: Traded again On April 1, Cincinnati traded Joiner to the
San Diego Chargers for defensive end
Coy Bacon. Joiner was happy to reunite with Walsh, who had just joined the Chargers as their
offensive coordinator. Chargers quarterback
Dan Fouts was impressed by his new receiver in preseason: "I love Charlie Joiner. He has a knack for finding the open spot." Joiner became the Chargers' leading receiver during a successful
1976 season with the team. He had a run of four consecutive 100-yard games early in the year, and secured his first 1,000-yard receiving season with two games to spare. He finished the year with 50 receptions for 1,056 yards (the third most in the league, and 285 more than Curtis had in Cincinnati) while averaging 21.1 yards per catch, and was named second-team
All-Pro by the
Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) at season's end. The trade for Joiner benefited both teams in the short term, as both he and Bacon were named to the
Pro Bowl and voted MVP by their respective teams that year. Beyond 1976, Bacon only played one more year in Cincinnati, while Joiner's career with the Chargers covered a further decade.
1977 season Joiner gave some thought to retirement before committing to play
the 1977 season. He was reunited with his Grambling quarterback James Harris on the field, as Fouts was
holding out through much of the season. Joiner was often double covered as newly acquired receiver
Johnny Rodgers was injured, and their
No. 1 draft pick from the year before, running back
Joe Washington, was recovering from knee issues. Joiner finished with 35 catches, 542 yards and 6 touchdowns, short of his 1976 performance in each statistic but still enough to lead all Chargers wide receivers.
1978 season Ray Perkins became the Chargers' offensive coordinator in
1978, their third in three years. He emphasized using running backs as
possession receivers and rookie No. 1 pick
John Jefferson as the deep threat while phasing out Joiner, who had undergone offseason knee surgery. Coryell had a reputation as an offensive strategist, Joiner struggled with post-surgery knee problems during the year and finished with 33 receptions, two fewer than in 1976 despite the regular season increasing from fourteen games to sixteen. The Chargers bolstered their receiving corps entering the season by using their first-round draft pick to select tight end
Kellen Winslow. He sustained a concussion during the game and finished it with stitches over one eye, as well as hip and thigh injuries. Joiner finished the game with 3 catches for 58 yards and the game-winning touchdown. It was an inspirational performance with Jefferson unable to play and
John Floyd, the Chargers only other receiver, being just a rookie; Joiner was the third player in league history to catch 70 or more passes after age 30, joining
Don Maynard and
Ahmad Rashad, who were each 30. Joiner's third playoff game ended in another defeat; his former team, the Oilers, overcame key injuries to surprise the Chargers 17–14 in San Diego. A disappointed Joiner commented: "I think we took it for granted... You got to fight in this game. We let them take it away from us. They wanted it more than we did."
1980 season Joiner had again expected to retire after the previous season, but returned in
1980 saying he wanted "one more shot at the
Super Bowl." The Chargers won their division again, this time with an 11–5 record. In the divisional playoffs, Joiner's 9-yard touchdown catch from Fouts began a comeback that saw the Chargers turn a 14–3 halftime deficit into a 20–14 victory, Joiner's first in the playoffs. San Diego progressed to the AFC championship game, where Joiner led the team with 6 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns, but could not prevent a 34–27 home defeat to the
Raiders. Reflecting on a second consecutive season of being eliminated at home, Joiner said, "We have to think about opportunities. We really missed the last two years."
1981 season Joiner once again considered retirement before the
1981 season, saying "Frankly, I don't know how much longer I can play. I feel my skills have diminished." Nonetheless, he continued his career, beginning the season as the Chargers' top wide receiver due to Jefferson holding out and eventually being traded. His production decreased in the following weeks as opposing defenses double covered him, but the addition of
Wes Chandler to replace Jefferson relieved that pressure. Joiner finished with 70 catches, making him the first receiver with at least 70 catches in three consecutive NFL seasons. He also had a team-leading and career-high 1,188 yards receiving, and the Chargers won their third consecutive
AFC West title with a 10–6 record. The Chargers advanced again to the conference championship, but lost 27–7 to Joiner's former team Cincinnati in a game later known as the
Freezer Bowl due to frigid gameday conditions.
1982 season Joiner committed to another season in July, signing a new contract. The
1982 season was reduced to nine games by a
players' strike. Joiner had no touchdowns in the regular season, though he did produce three 100-yard games. They won their first game 31–28 at the
Pittsburgh Steelers, but lost the next 34–13 in Miami, with their powerful offense largely shut down. Joiner scored his only touchdown of the season during the Miami defeat. He said, "The Chargers are human. You can't ask everything of us, every game."
1983 season During the offseason, Joiner intimated that his decision on whether to continue his career might rest on whether Fouts, a
free agent, negotiated a new contract with the Chargers. Fouts did eventually sign, and Joiner was back for another season. The Chargers had a disappointing
1983 campaign; Fouts missed time through injuries, and they finished 6–10. he caught 65 passes for 960 yards and 3 touchdowns, and was voted both the most valuable and most inspirational Charger by his teammates. His late-career surge had seen Joiner catch 314 passes in the past five seasons after only catching 282 in his first ten. He nonetheless did not attend his first mandatory practice, as he was holding out for a two-year contract and the Chargers were only offering him one year. Winslow said of his absence, "It's like there's a missing link, the chemistry isn't there. It's as if you're missing an ingredient." The holdout lasted only six days before Joiner agreed to a one-year contract. He improved enough to finish with 61 catches on the year. Joiner passed Taylor as the career leader in receptions on November 25, 1984, breaking the mark with 6 catches for 70 yards and a touchdown in a 52–24 loss against the Steelers. The record-breaking 650th catch was a 3-yarder from backup quarterback
Ed Luther late in the game.
1985 season During the offseason Joiner signed another one-year contract, committing to a tenth year with the Chargers. He finished the
1985 season with 59 catches for 932 yards, and tied his career high by scoring 7 touchdowns. He surpassed Maynard's record of receiving yards in a week 5 away game against the
Seattle Seahawks. The record-breaking catch was a 20-yarder from Fouts during the 3rd quarter of a 33–7 defeat; the game was halted briefly and Joiner got a standing ovation from the Seattle crowd. Joiner broke his right hand late in the season. It was the first game he had missed since 1973 with the Bengals, and broke a 194-game regular season appearance streak. Joiner finished the year with 34 catches, his least productive season since 1978, and retired from playing after the season. He said, "I'd thought about it for about eight or nine years and I finally did it. I'm 39 and that's too old to be playing football for a wide receiver. I've had a great career, I think, and I'm just proud of the fact that I finished No. 1, even though it probably won't last that long." Joiner was the last active player from the AFL. He retired as the then-NFL leader in career receptions and receiving yards. At the time, he also played the most seasons (18) and games by a wide receiver (239). At age 39, Joiner also retired as the oldest wide receiver in NFL history. He credited his success and longevity to Coryell: "Thanks to Coach Coryell’s offense and his revolutionary passing game, he prolonged my career, from the day I got to the Chargers until the day I retired. I will forever be grateful to him and what he did for the game of football." == Legacy ==