Category Archives: XFL

NFL, XFL

Walker, Phillip ‘PJ’

Card: Panini Unparalleled 2016
Acquired: IP 2020, Houston Roughnecks/ Tampa Bay Vipers Joint Practice

After he was selected by the Roughnecks, I was willing to pay a couple of bucks to get this beauty of a card of Phillip. Although the canvas is blasted out with stars on a shiny background- it’s a very unique design and a solid shot of Walker surveying the battlefield. I then tried to figure out the best time to get him to sign this card, being that I’d have to make a long drive from Central Texas to Houston. I passed up a few events that he was the marquee player at, in favor of maybe a bigger event where I could corral him.

Look no further than the Houston Roughnecks/ Tampa Bay Vipers joint practice. I got wind of the event and figured it’d be my best shot at getting both the Roughnecks and Vipers. As a season ticket holder, the league gave us ‘access’ to the field- a joke of a cornered off area on the home side between the 20 and the end zone. I saw Phillip warming up and asked him for his autograph. He gestured to his teammate he was tossing the ball with and came over to sign his card. It’s a nice autograph, minus the smudge, but I see these mainly as like tattoos or scars- rather than blemishes. – They add personality.

Phillip Walker played in college for the Temple Owls from 2013 to 2016. A dynamic passer and playmaker for the Owls, he set numerous school passing and career passing records for the school. He finished with 10,668 yards (830/1,458) for 74 TDs (44 INT). Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Indianapolis Colts after the 2016 NFL Draft, he found himself on and off the team’s practice squad over the next 3 seasons.

In 2020, Phillip was assigned by the XFL to the Houston Roughnecks, after he was recommended by former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. He’d compete with Connor Cook for the starting quarterback job in the Run N Shoot offense and win the starting job.

Walker was an untamed, wild talent, in the XFL to say the least. Every week he’d razzle and dazzle, impressing the local crowd and winning hearts and minds for the league. PJ led the team to a 5-0 record, completing 119 of 184 passes, for 1,338 yards, 15 TDs to just 4 interceptions. PJ had incredible pocket presence and awareness, but didn’t take off scrambling at the drop of a hat. He finished with 24 carries for 99 yards and a TD. Every game the home crowd was behind PJ chanting ‘PJ MVP’. It was electric.

After the XFL folded, PJ signed a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers for the upcoming 2020 NFL season. He’d be reunited with his former college coach Matt Rhule, who had become the HC in Carolina. Walker backed up Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback, starting an 11/22 matchup against the Detroit Lions, and notching his first professional win.

AAF, CFL, NFL, XFL

Pierson-El, De’Mornay

Card: Topps AAF 2019
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o The Oakland Raiders
Sent: 4/9 Received: 12/5 (240 days)

An electric player while at Nebraska, De’Mornay Pierson-El, played for the Cornhuskers from 2014-2017. Over that period the team tried hard to get the ball into his hands any way possible, whether it was rushing, receiving or punt returning. In 2014 he returned 3 punts for touchdowns, on 34 returns (596 yards), and in 2017 he had a career high 623 yards receiving on 45 catches (5 TDs).

After the 2018 NFL Draft, Pierson-El was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Washington Redskins. He then joined the Montreal Allouetttes briefly the next month, before finally landing on the squad of the AAF Salt Lake City Stallions. De’Mornay had a solid year for the Stallions leading the way for the wide receivers with 36 catches for 414 yards, a 2 point conversion, and a TD. (That TD marked the first score of the season at home for the Stallions.) His best game came against the San Diego Fleet, where Pierson-el posted 9 catches for 130 yards.

De’Mornay signed with the Raiders after the league fell apart. Following waiver wire reports like a hawk, I sent this to him immediately after he signed with the Raiders. He has been on and off the squad, which discouraged me from ever seeing this again, In fact Pierson-El was drafted by the St. Louis Battlehawks of the XFL 2020, but before he joined the team, he resigned with the Raiders again. It was at that point I guess he decided to pen this card and I received this one back only after a scant 240 days.

AAF, CFL, NFL, XFL

Northrup II, Reggie (2)

Card: Topps AAF 2019
Acquired: IP 2020, Houston Roughnecks / Tampa Bay Vipers Joint Practice
See Also: Reggie Northrup II

After the AAF folded, Reggie’s football dreams did not end. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Vipers during the XFL 2020 draft.

When I heard that the Vipers and Roughnecks were doing a joint practice, Reggie was one of the top players I was after. I wasn’t sure if he’d be a viable TTM candidate due to his pending litigation against the former AAF. I thought perhaps he might have sour grapes over even signing autographs- so in person was the way to go.

Reggie stayed after the joint practice to work the kids clinic. I loved his energy, how he smiled, and had fun with all the kids. He made them each feel special. It so moved me that it made me wish that these sort of initiatives existed when I was a child, and that my father had taken me to one.

After the clinic ended Reggie and a few other players retrieved their backpacks and equipment that they had left stashed by the visitor’s wall. I caught him on the way out, and he beamed when I asked him for his autograph on his AAF card. He excitedly pointed out to his teammates that I had his card, and then when I asked him if he knew where Obum Gwacham was, he flagged him down for me! Then Reggie jokingly leaned in and said, “I didn’t even know he played for the Hotshots.” It was a great experience, and we wished each other the best and that the AAF didn’t need to end the way it did.

Reggie was on and off the roster of the Tampa Bay Vipers throughout the short 5 week season. His litigation against the former AAF is still pending.

With how things have happened since then with COVID, which occurred a month or two after this event, it seems so long ago now how I was able to go to public events like this and get autographs.