Category Archives: CFL

AAF, Arena, CFL, NFL

Thomas, Jordan ‘JT’

Card: Topps AAF 2019 Certified
Acquired: 2019, EBay

Jordan Thomas was a highly touted recruit, and signed with Oklahoma in 2014. He was roughly a 4 year starter at the school, posting some eye popping numbers in his Sophomore year, with 46 total tackles, 4 pass deflections, and 5 interceptions for 153 yards and a TD. Jordan struggled to meet those numbers in his final two years at Norman- although he did manage to produce 17 pass breakups in his 2016 campaign.

JT was not selected in the 2018 NFL draft, but did manage to land with the Philadelphia Eagles. After being cut, Jordan signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and then later that year with the San Antonio Commanders of the fledgling AAF. JT made the Commanders, recording 2 tackles and a pass deflection during the preseason, but with a surfeit of talent at the CB position, he rarely saw action. JT saw playing time primarily in two contests, Week 2 against Orlando and Week 6 against Atlanta. He’d record 5 tackles in 8 games for San Antonio.

After the league disbanded, Jordan signed with the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League. He’d put together 17 total tackles and 3 pass breakups in 2019.

CFL, NFL, NFLE, XFL

Barnes, Pat (2)

Cards: Topps XFL 2001, Topps XFL 2001 Promo, Bowman NFLE 2000
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 4/18 Received: 5/28 (40 days)
See Also: Pat Barnes

Before the XFL 2020 season began, I started to reminisce about the XFL 2001. A few of the players who played in the XFL had fished in NFLE waters, so I thought it was time to revisit a few of them including the venerable Pat Barnes. Pat had a really nice chrome Topps card from his NFLE days that I liked, as well as the 2 Topps XFL cards. The design, sans the photos used, are almost the same. The only difference is the lower case typeface is used on the promo card. In this case, I liked the look of the promo card a bit more, just based on the photography used.

As of 2020, Patrick Barnes is a Principal with Avison Young who specializing in investment sales within Southern California marketplace for the last 15 years.  His expertise is in understanding the capital markets, creating value in an investment transaction, knowing and accessing investors and developing marketing strategies for commercial investment properties in Southern California on behalf of institutional clients, publicly traded companies, high net worth ownership and foreign Investors. Patrick excels in all facets of the real estate asset cycle including identifying target assets, rigorous financial modeling & analysis, entitling, marketing, leasing, and selling investor and occupier assets.

Patrick’s diverse experience covers a wide range of properties and deal size, ranging from $1M to over $50million. Over the course of Patrick’s career, he has sold over 300 properties and over $1 Billion in consideration.

Patrick Resides in Westchester California with his wife Summer and three children. Patrick enjoys being a husband, father, spending free time in the outdoors, fly-fishing, camping, hiking and hunting.



AAF, Arena, CFL

Guerra, Fabian

Cards: Topps AAF 2019, Arena Custom
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 4/15 Received: 5/2 (16 days)

Fabian Guerra played at Division II Fairmont University, where he set the standard at wide receiver for many of the school’s career statistical charts. Over his four years from 2013-2016, Fabian posted 233 catches for 2,805 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns. He was not selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, so he elected to join the National Arena League’s Carolina Cobras. He’d post 70 catches for 818 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns in his rookie year.

In 2018, Fabian joined the Memphis Express of the AAF. He’d make the final roster and start at receiver, but after an overall disastrous opener for the entire offense, he’d be cut. As the Express had offensive issues across the board, he’d be brought back late in the season, but finish with only one catch on the season.

His rights in the meantime had passed to the Arena Football League’s Columbus Destroyers in 2019. Fabian joined the league and earned Rookie of the Year Honors from the AFL, posting 61 receptions for 765 yards and 15 TDs. He also displayed a knack on returns posting 3 TDs on 39 returns (736 yards).

After the Arena Football League ended, Fabian was signed by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League for the 2020 season, but ultimate due to the Covid pandemic- had his career put on hold as the CFL cancelled the season.

Fabian has a pretty active Twitter account and gave away a couple of his cards to his fans. I missed out on that one but thankfully Mark’s Signing Bonus came through again and helped me out with the address. Guerra signed his AAF card and dropped in his custom for me, and wrote me a nice handwritten note for being a fan.