Card: ProSet 1990, Score 1990
Acquired: 2014, Albany Acquisition
Failure: 2011, C/o Home

Jeff Donaldson was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the 9th round of the 1984 draft out of Colorado. By 1986, he was starting at free safety for the Oilers in Jerry Glanville‘s defense. An aggressive, hard hitter, and good special teams performer, Donaldson had a career high 110 tackles that season. He was a great example of the ‘House of Pain’ moniker that the Oilers embraced during the late 80’s.  In 1990, with changes coming for the Houston Oilers organization, Donaldson was left exposed Plan B by the team. He’d sign with the Kansas City Chiefs that season.  He’d finish his tenure on the Oilers with 446 tackles.

The Oilers in 1989 had been thoroughly trounced by the Chiefs, and in that game Houston’s special teams were exposed almost as badly as the offense. How much a year can change things, as the Oilers in 1990 under Jack Pardee went into Arrowhead, and Kansas City had no answers for the Run ‘N Shoot offense. Warren Moon threw for 527 yards that day, including an 87 yarder to Haywood
Jeffires right in front of Donaldson.

After the season, Donaldson reunited with Jerry in Atlanta for the 1991 season. He’d play with the Falcons through the 1993 season and retire. He currently lives in Colorado. I had tried to get Donaldson’s autograph back in… 2011, but did not receive a response. He has been responding to TTM requests sporadically as of late, but I figured that I might as well knock him out via a large lot acquisition instead.

G/Gs   151/78        Tac   N/a       Sac   5.5      FR  8          Int   12      Yds  87      Avg          Lg  23     Td 0