Tag Archives: Miami Dolphins

Atkins, Gene

Gameday 1992, #28

CARDS: Gameday 1992, Skybox 1992, Action Packed 1991
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 4/21 RECEIVED: 5/6 (15 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Gene Atkins played defensive back at Florida A&M.
  • He was a 7th round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1987.
  • A big hitter with tremendous speed, Gene also handled kick returning duties averaging 21.2 yards per return (71 returns) over his career with the Saints.
  • Played Strong Safety and was a solid find for NO, posting 3 interceptions his rookie season and 4 in 1988.
  • Converted to Free Safety in 1990, replacing Dave Waymer in the lineup, posting 5 forced fumbles.
  • Best season arguably came in 1991 when Gene recorded 5 interceptions for a league leading 198 yards, along with 4 forced fumbles, and 75 tackles.
  • Signed with the Dolphins in 1994, finishing his career there after 1997.

ACCOLADES:

  • All Rookie Team 1987

NOTES:

Gene’s son, Geno played DT most notably for the Bengals. It is said that Gene suffers from early onset dementia due to concussions sustained from playing football. A fairly rare signer, I felt very fortunate to get Gene’s autograph.

I felt like Gene should’ve gotten a Pro Bowl nod for his titanic 1991 season, but with a logger jam of great safeties out there, he didn’t get in. He had some great cards over the years and also makes an appearance in Tecmo Super Bowl.

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6148.0152534813.9079

Camarillo, Greg

2009 Upper Deck, #105

CARDS: Score 2009, Panini Prestige 2010, Upper Deck 2009
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 11/8 RECEIVED: 11/21 (13 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Greg Camarillo walked on at Stanford as a punter in 2001, but eventually was able to settle in at WR.
  • Caught 18 passes in both his Junior and Senior campaigns.
  • Finished his college career with 45 catches for 599 yards.
  • Was not selected in the 2005 NFL draft, but picked up as a free agent by the San Diego Chargers.
  • He’d make the team as a practice squad member and was cut in 2007.
  • Signed off of waivers by the Miami Dolphins.
  • Didn’t really see much playing time until late in the 2007 season.
  • Blew up on the Baltimore Ravens catching 3 passes for 103 yards and a 64 yard TD, helping the Dolphins secure their only win of the season.
  • The 64 yard play would be the longest of the year for the hapless Dolphins.
  • In 2008, saw increased playtime, including an 11 catch 111 yard performance in a win over the Denver Broncos.
  • Joined the Vikings in 2010 playing for Minnesota through 2011.
  • Finished career in 2012 with the New Orleans Saints.

NOTES:

I loved these action shots of Greg, and being that they were also some set needs it made sense to get his autograph on them. He’s got a pretty solid autograph. I love the loops in the G and C. Greg is both Mexican American and of Jewish heritage.

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146173011.8564t

Hill, Tyreek

Panini Luminance 2018, #14

CARDS: Panini Luminance 2018, Panini Luminance 2018 Flash, Panini Chronicles 2020
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Charity*
SENT: 4/13 RECEIVED: 4/22 (9 days)
* Donation Enclosed

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Tyreek Hill faced an up and down college career starting as a track man at Gardena Jr College in 2012.
  • He’d become a hot prospect and eventually end up at Oklahoma State in 2014.
  • Dismissed from the Cowboys late in the year, he enrolled at West Alabama in 2015.
  • A versatile athlete, as a return man, receiver, and runningback, Hill displays a unique combination of skills, hands, and speed that made him an intriguing prospect.
  • He was selected in the 5th round of the 2016 NFL Draft as a WR by the Kansas City Chiefs, due to his dismissal from the OKC football team.
  • In Tyreek’s rookie year, he saw extensive time on special teams, where he led the league in punt return yards (592), average (15.2) and TDs (2).
  • He also had 14 kick returns for 384 yards and an 86 yard TD.
  • With the emergence of QB Pat Mahomes in KC, Hill became his go to bomb catcher in 2017.
  • Tyreek spent the next 5 years in KC raking in roughly 6,100 yards receiving and 49 TDs.
  • In 2022, Hill was traded in the middle of the night to the Miami Dolphins.
  • Despite detractors and naysayers, saying Hill was dependent on Mahomes for his numbers, Tyreek went on to have the best season of his career with 1710 yards receiving on 119 catches for Miami.
  • In 6 seasons, Hill has over 10k All-purpose yards, with 3 of those years over 1750 yards.

ACCOLADES:

  • Pro Bowl 2016-’22
  • All-Pro 2016, ’18, ’20, ’22

NOTES:

Tyreek Hill suffers from the ‘too good to be true syndrome’. Knowing these could be ghost signed I went ahead and sent these three out to get autographed. Just couldn’t miss out on getting him since he’s such a good player- with great cards to boot. After I got these back I got a ton of mail asking me if I thought these were legit or to enjoy my ‘fake’ autographs.

This is not the first time this has happened to me. On a previous occasion I got spammed by people who were upset because I got Joe Montana back TTM. They too thought it was too good to be true and that it was fake. It turns out that it’s now his standard autograph. No one calls them autopens or ghost signed anymore.

The same goes for Tyreek. While the cards I have are a departure from his original autograph, if you look at his more recent *certified* autographs, these are now the standard.

Panini Luminance has become a ‘late’ favorite of mine, even though it is from 2018. A bit disappointed that the insert card didn’t pick up his autograph better, and also that the cut out action pose is from the base card I also have autographed, but still glad to add them to the collection. Tyreek was a class act enough to toss in a Panini Chronicles as well, and all for the sweet, sweet donation of 20 bucks.