Cards: Upper Deck Houston Texans Inaugural Season 2002, Topps 2005
Acquired: 2016, Texans Academy Tailgating Kickoff

As I slowly make my way through the team set, I had targeted Kailee Wong when I had heard he was a member of the Texans’ Ambassador Program. It’s usually a shot in the dark showing up at the events so even though I had gotten teammate Seth Payne sometime ago, it was still worth it to go to Katy to nab Kailee on these cards. Like most former Texans, Wong was impressed with his Houston Texans Upper Deck card. While signing he asked how many I had in my collection- a first in all my in person collecting.  He was very impressed that I had 2,500 in the collection. Wong recently left the company he was working for and told me life was treating him well.

Kailee was originally a 2nd  round draft choice of the Minnesota Vikings in 1999 from Stanford.  He tallied 271 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and 5 interceptions for 55 yards and a TD.  Most of his stats came in his final two seasons with the Vikings, when he was slotted at middle linebacker.
I think that Kailee was the first defensive player that the Texans signed as a free agent back in 2002. He’d be part of a 3-4 defense alignment that’d showcase himself, Jaime Sharper, Jay Foreman, and Jeff Posey
at linebacker. While with the Texans, Wong put up a respectable stat line at primarily left outside linebacker. Over his career there he tallied 164 tackles and 15 sacks. He was the career leader in sacks for the franchise at the time of his retirement. Highly effective in pass coverage, Wong blanketed defenders to the tune of 25 combined pass deflections in 2003 and 2004.

In the end injuries and age caught up to Wong in 2007. While the flame continued to burn bright for Wong, the Texans wanted to get younger and asked Kailee to accept a backup role and mentor the linebacker corps.  He asked for and was granted his release instead.

G/Gs  123/93         TAC    376       SAC   21.5        FUM   2
INT 6       YDS 55      AVG 9.0     TD 1      LG 27t