The 17th overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, Charles Johnson, passed away Tuesday at the age of 50 years old, according to Pro Football Talk. The cause of his death is not yet known. The former wideout was working as an Assistant Athletic Director at Heritage High School, per CBS 17 in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

 

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Johnson with their first-round pick out of Colorado. Johnson would go on to play nine seasons in the National Football League. He played the first five seasons of his career in Pittsburgh before moving on to Philadelphia. Johnson would play two years with the Eagles before joining Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in 2001.

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During that season, Johnson and the Patriots would go on to win the first Super Bowl in franchise history. That was the beginning of the Tom Brady era in New England.

Following that season, however, Charles Johnson would sign with the Buffalo Bills and retire after the 2002 season.

For his career, he started 87 games out of 133 total games played. Johnson amassed 354 catches for 4,606 yards and 24 touchdowns. His best season was in 1996 with the Steelers when he surpassed 1,000 yards receiving and was among the league leaders with 16.8 yards per catch.

During his junior and senior seasons with the Buffaloes, Johnson was among the best receivers in college football. He posted back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons with 14 touchdowns. It was during that time that quarterback Kordell Stewart, Rashaan Salaam and Johnson were running amuck over teams in the Big 12, even though it was not the Big 12 at the time.