Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

CFL, NFL, The Spring League

Trail, Lynden

Card: Sage 2015
Acquired: 2016, EBay

Lynden Trail was one of the darlings of the Houston Texans venture onto Hard Knocks.  Going to college at Norfolk State, he finished his Senior season with 91 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, and 5 sacks. Undrafted in 2015, Trail signed a free agent contract with the Texans, but he tore his quad during the preseason and received an injury settlement from the Texans.  He’d recover and sign with the Washington Redskins spending time on and off their practice squad throughout 2016.  A project player with great physical attributes (6’7″, 269), Lynden has seen the field briefly during the NFL regular season recording 2 tackles and a pass deflection.  After a brief stint with the La Rams that year, he’d rejoin the Redskins.  I saw him play in the Spring League during 2018, and soon thereafter he signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL.

I had high hopes for Trail as a project for the Texans but obviously they didn’t have the patience that I did. He’s a real down to Earth story of humility and the everyday man you cheer for.

NFL

Doctson, Josh

Card: Sage 2016
Acquired: 2017, Box Breaker
Failure: 2016, TTM C/o the Redskins

Well Josh Doctson rocketed up charts his Senior season at TCU in 2015. The receiver caught a school record 79 balls as a Senior, for 1337 yards and 14 TDs.  What’s more amazing is that he finished his career second on the school’s all-time chart despite starting his career at Wyoming, before transferring to TCU.  A master technician, Josh runs really clean routes and has pretty solid hands. Despite some injuries in 2015, he was a lock for the first round in a weak wide receiver class.

After Corey Coleman came off early, Doctson was my targeted receiver for the Texans to take, but Houston elected to go for burner speed instead and selected Will Fuller out of Notre Dame at 21.  On the very next selection the Redskins picked Doctson.  Josh suffered from really bad luck his rookie season, as an Achilles injury he got during the preseason, nagged him all year long. He finished 2016 with 2 receptions for 66 yards, before being shelved on IR for the year.  Josh started picking up steam in 2017 with 35 receptions for 502 yards and 6 TDs, including a 52 yard snag.  As the Redskins transition from Kirk Cousins to Alex Smith at quarterback, it should be interesting to see how Doctson plays into the team’s offensive plans moving forward.

I sent off for his autograph right before the preseason broke up in 2016, but I must have missed the boat on him signing as I have not seen any returns from him since that timeframe.  Luckily enough I pulled this from a leftover box of Sage that was in a discount bin at Walmart.

NFL

Morris, Stephen

Card: Topps Strata 2014
Acquired: 2017, Walmart Box Breaker

Stephen Morris played college ball at Miami (FL).  Over his college career from 2010-2013 he posted 7896 yards and 49 TDs to 30 interceptions. He was not selected in the 2014 NFL Draft, but signed a free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. For pretty much the entirety of his career he’s been relegated to the practice squad or 3rd string quarterback and while his body of preseason work has improved over the year, he has never attempted an NFL pass.

After a little over a season in Jacksonville Morris was waived in 2015. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and was added to their practice squad. The Colts claimed him right before Christmas and added Stephen to their active roster. With Andrew Luck ailing Morris stood a decent chance of making the team- and while he had a more impressive preseason than fellow QB Scott Tolzien, Morris was inexplicably cut before the season began.

After a year away from the NFL, Morris was signed and cut by no less than 3 teams during the 2017 off-season including the Redskins and Seahawks. On the same day as this posting, Morris was claimed off of waivers by the Houston Texans.