American football player (1956?2013)
American football player
Todd Jay Christensen
(August 3, 1956 ? November 13, 2013) was an American professional
football
tight end
who played in the
National Football League
(NFL) from 1978 until 1988, primarily with the
Oakland
/
Los Angeles Raiders
. He played
college football
for the
BYU Cougars
and was drafted by the
Dallas Cowboys
in the second round (56th overall) of the
1978 NFL Draft
. Following his retirement Christensen became a commentator for both professional and collegiate games, working for
NBC Sports
,
ESPN
, and
CBS Sports Network
among others.
Early life
[
edit
]
Christensen was born in
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
. His parents were Ned Jay and June Christensen.
[1]
[2]
He was a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
.
[3]
His father was working on a doctoral degree at
Pennsylvania State University
at that time. When he was five years old, his father, after teaching in
West Virginia
, was offered a professorship in
Eugene, Oregon
and the family relocated.
"Puberty and adolescence helped me realize that I was not as fast as I had thought," he recalled. "My body went a different direction and that was when I started leaning towards football."
[
citation needed
]
He graduated from
Sheldon High School
in Eugene in 1974.
[4]
[5]
He was selected in the
1974 Major League Baseball draft
, but he elected to play football at
Brigham Young University
(BYU) in
Provo
,
Utah
.
[6]
[2]
At BYU, Christensen was a four-year starter (1974?1977) for the
Cougars
at
fullback
, led the team for three consecutive seasons in receiving and was an All-
Western Athletic Conference
selection as a senior in 1977. His career numbers while at BYU: 276 rushing attempts for 1,072 yards and 8 touchdowns, 152 receptions for 1,568 yards and 13 touchdowns. He graduated with a degree in social work in 1978 before embarking on his pro career.
Professional career
[
edit
]
Dallas Cowboys
[
edit
]
Christensen was selected in the second-round (56th overall) of the
1978 NFL draft
by the
Dallas Cowboys
.
[1]
While playing
fullback
and leading the team in rushing, he broke his foot in the final exhibition game, so he was placed on injured reserve and couldn't play a down in a
season
the team won the conference title and played in
Super Bowl XIII
. The next year the Cowboys wanted to convert him to
tight end
, but he didn't agree with the move after working one week in his new position, so he was waived at the end of training camp.
New York Giants
[
edit
]
Christensen was claimed off waivers by the
New York Giants
but only played in one game and lasted two weeks with the team, before being released to make room for
wide receiver
Dwight Scales
.
[7]
Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders
[
edit
]
After being unclaimed, he was signed by the
Oakland Raiders
in
1979
and became a key player on
special teams
, which included the role of
long snapper
. Being the son of a college professor, he was scholarly and enjoyed the mastery of words, he also quoted famous authors and volunteered on different occasions poems, some of which were written by him. His eccentricities helped him fit in with the Raiders, even if he wasn't tailored to the renegade mold.
He finally agreed to play the
tight end
position and after three seasons of unspectacular statistics (including the Raiders'
Super Bowl
winning campaign in
1980
, in which his only reception of the entire year was a 1-yard touchdown catch in the opening round of the playoffs), Christensen broke out in
1982
, catching 42 passes for 510 yards and four touchdowns during the strike-shortened season, helping the Raiders tie the
Washington Redskins
for the best record in the NFL. The next year, Christensen caught 92 passes for a career-high 1,247 yards and 12 touchdowns and earned the first of his five trips to the
Pro Bowl
for his efforts.
[1]
His total catches led the NFL, making him the second tight end to ever do this (
Kellen Winslow
was the other). The Raiders finished the season with a resounding 38?9 victory over the
Washington Redskins
in
Super Bowl XVIII
.
Christensen topped 1,000 yards again in
1984
, catching 82 passes in the process.
[1]
He hit 80 receptions again the following year, missing 1,000 yards by just 13 yards.
[1]
The
1986 NFL season
was Christensen's last big one statistically. He ended the year with a career-high, league-leading 95 receptions for 1,153 yards and eight touchdowns.
[1]
The 95 receptions would stand as the most by an NFL tight end in a single season until
Ben Coates
totaled 96 in 1994. Christensen also became the first tight end in history to catch 90 passes in each of two seasons.
Christensen's
1987
campaign was cut short due to the players' strike, but in 12 games he still managed to catch 47 balls (a little fewer than four per game). His 663 yards averaged to 14.1 yards per reception, a career-high in seasons where he caught at least 40 passes. In Christensen's
final year
, he missed more than half the season with injuries. He only caught 15 passes, with none going for touchdowns, and then he retired from pro football.
[1]
In his career, Christensen caught 461 passes for 5,872 yards and 41 touchdowns.
[1]
In eight postseason games, he caught 31 balls for 358 yards and only one touchdown. He led the league in receptions twice, and his 349 receptions from
1983
through
86
(four seasons) was an NFL record.
In 2017, the
Professional Football Researchers Association
named Christensen to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2017.
[8]
NFL career statistics
[
edit
]
Legend
|
|
Won the
Super Bowl
|
|
Led the league
|
Bold
|
Career high
|
Regular season
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
Games
|
Receiving
|
GP
|
GS
|
Rec
|
Yds
|
Avg
|
Lng
|
TD
|
1979
|
NYG
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.0
|
0
|
0
|
OAK
|
12
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.0
|
0
|
0
|
1980
|
OAK
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.0
|
0
|
0
|
1981
|
OAK
|
16
|
0
|
8
|
115
|
14.4
|
30
|
2
|
1982
|
RAI
|
9
|
9
|
42
|
510
|
12.1
|
50
|
4
|
1983
|
RAI
|
16
|
16
|
92
|
1,247
|
13.6
|
45
|
12
|
1984
|
RAI
|
16
|
16
|
80
|
1,007
|
12.6
|
38
|
7
|
1985
|
RAI
|
16
|
16
|
82
|
987
|
12.0
|
48
|
6
|
1986
|
RAI
|
16
|
16
|
95
|
1,153
|
12.1
|
35
|
8
|
1987
|
RAI
|
12
|
12
|
47
|
663
|
14.1
|
33
|
2
|
1988
|
RAI
|
7
|
5
|
15
|
190
|
12.7
|
22
|
0
|
|
137
|
90
|
461
|
5,872
|
12.7
|
50
|
41
|
Playoffs
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
Games
|
Receiving
|
GP
|
GS
|
Rec
|
Yds
|
Avg
|
Lng
|
TD
|
1980
|
OAK
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1.0
|
1
|
1
|
1982
|
RAI
|
2
|
2
|
11
|
124
|
11.3
|
31
|
0
|
1983
|
RAI
|
3
|
3
|
14
|
134
|
9.6
|
21
|
0
|
1984
|
RAI
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
21
|
21.0
|
21
|
0
|
1985
|
RAI
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
78
|
19.5
|
31
|
0
|
|
11
|
7
|
31
|
358
|
11.5
|
31
|
1
|
After the NFL
[
edit
]
Following his football career Christensen participated in
Masters Track and Field
, where he set an age-group world record in the Heptathlon and was the top decathlete in the world for ages 45-and-over.
[9]
In 1990, during the Major League Baseball lockout, he tried out for the
Oakland Athletics
.
[6]
Christensen became a broadcaster, co-hosting the second half of the first season of
American Gladiators
with
Mike Adamle
. He later joined the
NFL on NBC
as a color commentator from 1990 to 1994, teaming up with
Charlie Jones
for the first four years and, had
Greg Gumbel
stayed in
CBS
, he would have teamed up with
Drew Goodman
instead of
Jim Lampley
in 1994.
In 1994, Christensen guest-starred on an episode of
Married... with Children
titled "Kelly Knows Something."
[10]
Christensen did color commentary for
ESPN
's college football coverage before moving to
MountainWest Sports Network
. Christensen would remain with "the mtn." until the network shut down on May 31, 2012. Christensen was announced as the new analyst for CBS Sports Network Navy games in August 2012. In 2000, he was inducted into the
Oregon Sports Hall of Fame
.
Death
[
edit
]
Christensen died at age 57 on November 13, 2013, from complications during liver transplant surgery at
Intermountain Medical Center
in
Murray, Utah
, near his home in
Alpine
. He had battled liver disease and related illnesses for about two years, though his son, Toby, said his liver issues began with a "botched"
gallbladder
surgery 25 years earlier.
[11]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"Todd Christensen"
.
pro-football-reference.com
. Sports Reference LLC
. Retrieved
February 13,
2010
.
- ^
a
b
Rhoads, Terry (January 22, 1984).
"The folks will stay home"
.
Eugene Register-Guard
. Oregon. p. 1C.
- ^
Benson, Lee; Robinson, Doug (January 1, 1992).
Trials & Triumphs/Mormons in the Olympic Games
. Salt Lake City, UT:
Deseret Book Company
. p. Foreward
. Retrieved
October 13,
2023
.
- ^
"Best District 5AAA bets: Sheldon, South"
.
Eugene Register-Guard
. Oregon. September 2, 1973. p. 3C.
- ^
"Sheldon"
.
Eugene Register-Guard
. Oregon. September 2, 1973. p. 3C.
- ^
a
b
Kroichick, Ron (February 23, 1990).
"Christensen goes out for new challenge?baseball"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
- ^
"A Twice-Cut, All-Pro End"
.
New York Times
. January 2, 1984.
- ^
"PRFA Hall of Very Good Class of 2017"
. Retrieved
December 18,
2017
.
- ^
"Todd Christensen"
. AEI Speakers Bureau.
- ^
"Todd Christensen ? Biography"
.
IMDb
.
- ^
"Ex-BYU and NFL star Todd Christensen dies at age 57"
.
The Salt Lake Tribune
. November 13, 2013
. Retrieved
November 13,
2013
.
External links
[
edit
]