Category Archives: NFL

AAF, CFL, NFL, XFL

Grant, Doran

CARD: Topps AAF 2019 Certified, Topps AAF 2019
ACQUIRED: Private Break, 2019. Consignment, 2020

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Doran Grant played college ball at Ohio State from 2011 to 2014.
  • At DB/CB he tallied 140 total tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 19 pass deflections, 9 interceptions for 146 yards and a TD.
  • Selected in the 4th round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Steelers.
  • Over the next few seasons, Doran was on and off the Practice squad of the Steelers, Bills, Giants, Jaguars, and Bears.
  • Late in 2018 signed with the Atlanta Legends of the AAF.
    • Finished with 12 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 4 pass deflections in 8 contests.
    • Played for the Defenders of the XFL in 2020 starting one contest.
    • Posted 7 tackles and 1 pass deflection for DC in 5 games.
    • He’d sign with the Blue Bombers after the XFL folded due to COVID.
    • After the CFL cancelled the season due to COVID, he opted out of play.
    • Grant went into coaching where he has been coaching at the high school level.

NOTES:

My friend Seth helped me get Doran way back when he joined the DC Defenders. He said all the players were excited to sign their cards at the team meet and greet. The certified is basically a zoomed up version of his base card. Still it looks good and I am fortunate Seth was kind enough to help me out.

NFL

Johnson, Steve ‘Stevie’

CARDS: Score 2009 Young Stars, Score 2009, Panini Rookies & Stars 2013, Donruss 2019
ACQUIRED: TTM 2025, C/o Surrogate*
SENT: 7/29 RECEIVED: 8/18 (20 Days)
FAILURE: TTM 2011, C/o The San Fransisco 49ers
* fee enclosed

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • After two years at Chabot college in California, Stevie Johnson headed for Kentucky to play WR in 2006.
  • In his Senior campaign, he had 60 catches for 1041 yards and 13 TDs.
  • Both his yards and receiving TDs led the SEC.
  • Selected in the 7th round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills.
  • Caught first TD from JP Losman against the Jets late in his rookie year.
  • Sidelined for most of 2009 with a rib injury.
  • Burst onto the scene in 2010 with 82 catches for 1073 yards and 10 TDs.
  • Followed that up in 2011 with 76 catches for 1004 yards and 7 TDs, playing much of the season injured.
  • Another solid campaign followed in ’12 with 79 catches for 1046 yards and 6 TDs.
  • First receiver in franchise history to record 3 back to back to back 1,000+ yard seasons.
  • As the team struggled with a change in QB to EJ Manuel, Stevie’s numbers slipped.
  • Traded to the 49ers in 2014 and caught 35 passes for 435 yards and 3 TDs.
  • Signed with Chargers in ’15, but battled with injuries throughout the remainder of his playing career and was released in early 2017.
  • Is a big fan of Buffalo and has returned to his roots in the community.
  • Owns the trademark to the Buffalo Destroyers arena football team and is trying to revive the brand.

NOTES:

Probably the only time you’ll see ‘surrogate’ instead of ‘home’ or ‘work’ on my returns, because some sleuths figured out that Stevie’s mail was going to a different address owned by a different guy. Well the people on sportscollectors.net got suspicious and I figured I’d get to the bottom of it. So I reached out to both the surrogate and Stevie to figure out if this was legit or not.

Turns out that the surrogate is one of Stevie’s close friends going back to high school. He explained that Stevie wanted to sign autographs for fans TTM but didn’t want to give out his home or foundation’s address- which I totally understand.

The surrogate did a great job keeping me abreast of where the cards where when I sent them to him, and that Stevie would be a bit delayed since he was on vacation. I further verified this to make sure. Frankly, if someone went to this much trouble to fake this, he could just take my money and be done with it. Still it was one of my more odder TTM situations but who cares? It all worked out in the end.

NFL, WLAF

Layfield, John ‘JBL’

CARD: WLAF Pro Set 1991
ACQUIRED: EBay, 2025

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • John Layfield played OT at tiny Abilene Christian.
  • Clocking in at 6-5, 278- he’d earn Division II first team All American Honors as a Senior, and All-Lone Star Conference Honors as both a Junior and Senior.
  • Undrafted in 1990, he’d sign with the Los Angeles Raiders but would be cut before camp began.
  • Selected by the San Antonio Riders of the WLAF in 1991.
  • Started all 10 games blocking up front for RB Ricky Blake– who finished 3rd in rushing.
  • Didn’t return for the 1992 season and quickly decided to chase his true passion: Pro Wrestling.
  • Over the next few years, Layfield would hone his game and persona in different leagues around the world.
  • John Layfield joined the WWE in 1995.
  • He won his first title- The European Continental Title in 2002, that he held for a bit over a week.
  • In 2004, he rebranded simply as ‘JBL’, a wrestling version of JR Ewing from the TV show ‘Dallas’.
  • JBL won the WWE Championship soon thereafter and held it for roughly 280 days.
  • Continued to wrestle through the Attitude era and into the family friendly Cena years.
  • Retired in 2009, but not before winning the Intercontinental Championship.
  • Joined ringside as a commentator.
  • Sporadically has returned to the ring and acts as a brand ambassador for the WWE and for other brands as well.
  • A successful investor, he’s a Senior VP at Northwest Securities and commentator on Fox News.
  • Lives in Bermuda and has been empowering the youth of the island through the sport of rugby.

ACCOLADES:

  • WWE Hardcore Championship
  • WWE European Championship
  • WWE Tag Team Championship
  • WWE Intercontinental Champion
  • WWE Champion
  • WWE US Championship
  • WWE Hall of Fame (2020)
  • Race to the Rumble Tournament

NOTES:

John is a non-signer TTM. I had however missed out on a paid signing for him back in 2014. I had gotten a bargain price on him and the promoter called me to tell me that they were unable to get him and that ‘they’d make it up to me’. -They never did.

Anyway, I had found John was in Bermuda, where he was really helping establish the sport of Rugby, but I couldn’t find a corresponding address to him and eventually gave up. He then later moved back into the wrestling world- which he honestly never left- and was touring all over Mexico and other countries.

I noticed a few certified encased autographs popped up of him on EBay, but in general they were running anywhere from 75-150 dollars, which honestly I thought was way too expensive for him. I got into a bidding war on one, but in the last 3 minutes of the battle, two other sellers zoomed it up well over 50 bucks which again was too rich for my blood.

It took a bit of patience, but it paid off as I sniped this Beckett certified autograph off of Ebay for 15 bucks when the day was done. I waited with baited breath that somehow this one would get lost, but credit the seller for getting it to me in this big win.

In 1992 after these cards were released, I went down to the field after the game where coach Riley offered to help me get autographs of any of the players he could identity from the set. When we got to Layfield- he obviously wasn’t happy about it and told me that JBL was no longer with the team.

Before he joined the WWF/E Layfield used to amuse his teammates with his impersonations of wrestlers and aspired to be one. This fact was so well known, it made it onto his Pro Set WLAF card.

A final note: Only true hard core fans are aware that JBL appeared in the 1991 World League set, but most aren’t aware either that if he was around for 1992, he’d have probably blocked against Bill Goldberg.

This photo is blurry because it’s still encased.