Tag Archives: Miami Dolphins

NFL, WLAF

Pritchett, Wes

Card: Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Work
Sent: 3/24      Received: 4/1     (8 days)

The Fighting Irish had quite the linebacking corps from back in the day. During their prominent title runs of the late 1980s, the group had Frank Stams, Michael Stonebreaker, and Wes Pritchett manning the platoon. Called ‘The Three Amigos’, Pritchett was the black hole in the middle that soaked up targets and tackles. During his Senior campaign in 1988, he led the team in tackles with 112.

Wes was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 6th round of the prolific 1989 draft. He’d later suit up for 3 contests for the Atlanta Falcons in 1991.  The New York- New Jersey Knights then selected Wes during the 1992 WLAF Supplemental Draft.  He’d see action during the season recording a sack and an interception for 19 yards.

As of 2017, Pritchett lives in the Atlanta area where he runs a very successful financial securities group.

NFL, WLAF

Williams, Ronnie

Cards: Wild Card WLAF 1992, Ultimate WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Home
Sent: 8/4   Received:  9/8   (35 days)
*donation enclosed

Ronnie Williams played college ball for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1984-1987.  Originally a quarterback, he’d be converted to wide receiver by his senior year.  Over his time at OSU Ronnie completed 264 of 349 passes, and as a Senior caught 26 passes for 304 yards and 2 TDs.

He’d sign with the San Diego Chargers as a free agent in 1988. After not being able to latch on with a team over the next few seasons, Ronnie decided to give the WLAF a shot.

Ronnie was selected in the first round of the WLAF positional draft in 1991 by the San Antonio Riders. The Riders loved the tools that Ronnie had to work with, and as the team’s offense matured, featured Williams frequently split out as a wide out to expose defensive mismatches. He’d lead the team in receptions with 30 catches, and 4th in 321 yards.  In 1992 Ronnie had 20 receptions for 216 yards and 4 TDs.  Although the Riders finished with a 7-3 record, they were left looking in on the playoffs. During the ‘Do or Die’ game against the Sacramento Surge, Ronnie caught a short TD during the second quarter.

Like the rest of the WLAF, the Riders were dissolved with the league after the season concluded. Ronnie is notable as he is the franchise’s career leader in receptions with 50.

Ronnie became one of the WLAF success stories. After the 1992 season, he signed with the Miami Dolphins.  He didn’t see the field in 1993 and was primarily used as a 3rd TE and blocker by the Dolphins over his career.  Perhaps his most memorable moment was catching his first professional TD pass, a 1 yard sneaky grab from Dan Marino during the 1994 playoffs in a win over the Chiefs (27-17). He played for the team through 1995, joining the Seattle Seahawks in 1996.  Ronnie caught his only regular season TD from Rick Mirer that year. After the season he’d retire.

Ronnie had two amazing WLAF cards that were not widely available until after the 1992 season, and I always wanted to get them signed. Plus he was a Rider. I had just barely missed him on two or three occasions, but finally got a hold of him.  I agreed to send a donation to his kids program and updated him on the status of many of his teammates.

WLAF      REC  50         YDS  537     AVG   10.7     TD  4
NFL  55/5         REC  10                 YDS   79             AVG  7.9        TD 1

NFL

Henne, Chad

Cards: SPX 2008 (277/599), Score 2009, Score 2014, Prism 2014
Acquired: EBay 2015, TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 5/10   Received: 5/19  (9 days)

Chad Henne is an absolutely underrated quarterback.  Whenever he takes the field in place of Blake Bortles for the Jaguars against the Texans, I get very nervous. He frequently will just take off and run for 4-7 yards instead of trying for a low percentage completion.

After Chad built an impressive resume at Michigan as a 4 year starter, he was selected in the second round of the 2008 draft by the Miami Dolphins.  The heir to the throne of Chad Pennington, he played sparingly his rookie year, appearing in 3 games in mop up duty.  Chad took over the gig full time in 2009 (after a shoulder injury to Pennington) and in 14 starts, compiled a 7-6 record as a starter, throwing for almost 2900 yards and 12 TDs.  He again returned as starter in 2010, completing 301 of 490 attempts with 15 TDs.   Chad could not hold onto the starting quarterback job in 2011, fighting Matt Moore the entire season.

The Dolphins decided to go in another direction at quarterback in 2012, drafting former Texas A&M signal caller Ryan Tannehill. In the meantime, Henne was the odd man out and signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Initially he’d be Blaine Gabbert’s backup, but as the team continued to struggle,  Chad was thrust into the lineup. He’d post 11 TDs on 308 attempts, averaging a bit over 208 yards a game.  Henne was the anointed starter of the Jaguars in 2013. He’d throw a career high 503 times for 3241 yards and 13 touchdowns.  (The Jaguars would sweep the Texans for the first time in- a very long time that year.)

The Jaguars decided to start over again at the quarterback position in 2014, selecting Blake Bortles in the 1st round of the NFL Draft.
Chad’s playing time has decreased significantly since then. He saw action in 3 games in 2014, but was quickly supplanted by Bortles as the starting quarterback. Since then Blake has been almost impervious to harm, so Chad has not been on the field at all. He’s restructured his contract twice to help out the Jaguars salary cap.  Henne is a veteran now and has seen his way around many defenses in the past.  He may not have the best TD to INT ratio, but I sense there is still some tools there that some quarterback guru could groom.

In 2017 with a new coaching staff in place and a new GM in Tom Coughlin that had no ties to Bortles whatsoever- it’s clearly obvious that the franchise has become impatient with Blake. They’ve put him on a short leash with Henne waiting to start in the wings.