A Legacy Overshadowed by a League Imagine this: your favorite team is down seven with little time left in the game. They are inside their own ten; it is third down in a long yardage situation. Who would you give the ball to? The 1971 Chiefs turned to Otis Taylor. After catching a shovel pass, he turned upfield to meet five tacklers and get a fresh set of downs (Boyle). This was one of many stories you could hear from people that knew or played with Taylor. Taylor was a powerful receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1965 to 1975. He was 215 pounds, 6’3”, and could run a 40-yard dash in under 4.5 seconds (Keeler). The contributions to professional football demonstrated by the career of Taylor proves beyond a doubt that the Pro-Football …show more content…
Taylor appeared on many stat leaderboards throughout his career. Taylor led stat sections such as Long Receptions (89; AFL) and Yards per Reception in 1966 (22.4 yards; AFL), Receiving Touchdowns in 1967 (11 touchdowns; AFL), and Receiving Yards (1,110 yards; NFL) and Receiving Yards per Game in 1971 (79.3 yards; NFL) (Otis Taylor NFL & AFL Football Statistics). Taylor was one of the best receivers playing professional football at this time. He played in three Pro-Bowls: 1966, 1971, and 1972. Out of these three Pro-Bowls, he was First-Team All-Pro in 1966 and 1971 (Otis Taylor NFL & AFL Football Statistics). Taylor received much praise throughout his …show more content…
Many members of the Pro-Football Hall of Fame Voting Committee are uncertain of the talent level in the AFL prior to the merging of the AFL and NFL in 1971. As a result, the voters are hesitant to vote in players that played in the AFL (Keeler). This is very unfair to Taylor and players that played in the AFL because the players were good in the AFL too. They are just keeping the players out because they think their league is better. This claim is also not very logical because after the merger, Taylor put up the best stats in the NFL in 1971