He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats and was selected in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft by the Houston Oilers, where he spent his first five seasons.

Following his senior season in 1970, Dickey finished tenth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and was named MVP of the North–South Shrine Game.

However, he suffered the first in a long line of serious injuries throughout his career, a dislocated and broken hip in the fourth preseason game, which cost him the rest of the year.

[8] Green Bay was eliminated the following week by the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round after Dickey went 24 of 37 for 274 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions as the team fell 37–26.

[10][11] His 4,458 yards that season served as the team record until being surpassed by Aaron Rodgers in 2011[12] and threw a career-best 32 touchdowns, the most in the NFL in 1983.

In the two games, a 41-38 win over the Houston Oilers followed by a 21-25 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dickey completed 41 of his 51 passes for 623 yards with eight touchdowns and 1 interception.

[citation needed] Dickey's Packers had beaten Theismann's Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins in a thrilling Monday Night Football game earlier that season (Washington kicker Mark Moseley missed a field goal in the closing seconds, preserving the Packers' 48–47 win).

[16][17][18] He holds Packers records for highest completion percentage in a game with a minimum of 20 attempts (19–21, 90.48%, versus New Orleans on December 13, 1981).