Category Archives: NFL

NFL

Walter, Kevin

Card: Score 2009
Acquired: TTM 2010, Texans Blitz

Kevin Walter was a 7th round pick of the New York Giants back in 2003 out of Eastern Michigan. Unable to make the roster of the Giants the Bengals snapped him up off of waivers. Walter would play primarily on special teams  as his playing time increased over the next 3 seasons.  In 2005, he’d start two games and log 19 receptions for 211 yards for the Bengals.

The offseason would start with Walter being a restricted free agent and the Texans would quickly pay the bargain price of a 7th rounder to get Kevin from the Bengals.  (Being that Walter was from the same draft as Andre Johnson, it is inferred that the Texans really did their homework on wide receivers that year with an unusually deep class at the position.) While 2006 would be more of the same for Walter, he’d quickly work himself up the depth chart in 2007 opposite Andre Johnson with new starting quarterback Matt Schaub in the lineup. As injuries would limit Johnson’s production, Walter would step up and become the primary receiver for the majority of the season logging career highs in all receiving categories. He’d follow 2007 up with a just as productive 2008 making personal career highs in all receiving categories with 60 receptions for 899 yards, 15.0 average, 61 long and 8 touchdowns. As he plowed into 2009, optimism was high that the Texans would have 2 1000 yard receivers, but nagging injuries would limit Walter’s production to 14 games, and he’d log 611 yards and 2 touchdowns. In the offseason, the Texans resigned him insisting he was part of their overall strategy (over rumors that he wanted to sign with the Giants,) to a fairly lucrative contract, and his 2011 was a slight rebound off of his previous season with 5 touchdowns and 621 yards. Walter has experienced exponential growth as a receiver over the past few seasons in Houston and has even been praised by former teammates in Cincinnati. Overall he is considered one of the team’s smarter pickups and is ranked second All time on the Texans’ receiving charts behind Andre Johnson in yards, receptions, and touchdowns by a hair over teammate Owen Daniels. A precise route runner with extremely good hands, Walter is continued to be expected to work opposite Johnson for the foreseeable future.

Score 2009 cards are great. I really like the framing and design of the cards. They lack the perceived border restriction that a lot of cards have, while the design is current and relative with the splattered ink style. The delivery of the important information about the player is clever, yet slightly understated, and the photography is strong.  Something that I’ve never understood is why card companies make high glossy cards, because isn’t the other function of these cards other than collecting them, is to get them signed?  (So the ink never completely set on this card but did dry because of the gloss.) Oh well. Walter is a great sleeper still in many deeper Fantasy Football leagues. If I can I typically take a flyer on him in the latter rounds or even luckier on waivers.

I was told that Walter loves receiving football cards, collecting all his own, and even likes fan art. Below are his statistics through the 2010 season.

G/Gs  121/64      Rec 267      Yds   3387     Avg  12.3       Td 20      Lg  61

 

NFL

Mitchell, Brian

Cards: ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o home
Sent:  4/25    Received: 5/5  (10 days)

Brian Mitchell was a quarterback originally at Southwest Louisiana. An amazing athlete, he owned virtually all the quarterback records when he left the college and was the first NCAA player to throw for over 5,000 yards and rush for over 3,000 in their career. After graduating from college, he was drafted in the 5th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. The Redskins were deep at quarterback so the team decided they’d throw him back there as a return specialist, runningback, and as emergency quarterback. Brian would rack up the return yardage playing for the Redskins through 1999. An electric returner, Mitchell led the league in punt return yards with 600 in 1991,  and was a ProBowl selection in 1995 for the team. In 10 seasons with the Redskins Brian left holding virtually all the Redskins special teams records, racking up over 16,000 yards from scrimmage and 7 punt returns for touchdowns.  After leaving the team, he’d play for the Eagles from 2000-2002 and continued his assault on the record books, setting a league record at the time with 206 kick return yards in a single game.  Brian would play one final season for the New York Giants in 2003, before retiring as a member of the Redskins.

When I initially started this project, Brian was one of the players that I really wanted to honor. Incredibly upon retirement, Mitchell was ranked 2nd all time in yards from scrimmage, had 4 seasons of over 2000 yards, and holds the NFL records for kick returns (607), combined return yards (19013), punt return yards (4999), career kickoff return yards (14014), career fair catches (231), fair catches in a season (33), and punt returns (463). Still most people are unaware of the legacy Mitchell left upon the game and he probably won’t see the Hall of Fame, because of the lack of respect for special teamers. In the meantime, he was inducted into the Redskins Hall of Honor in 2009, works on his foundation (Brian Mitchell Foundation), and has been involved in broadcasting. I was pleased to get Brian’s autograph in 10 days flat from his home in Louisiana.

Great cards of Brian here. ProSet really did their homework and had a card of him before the end of his rookie season in their 1990 update set which was far and ahead of anything anybody produced by at least a year.  Oddly he’d appear in both of Pro Set’s 1990 and 1991 update as the last card in each set. (Sure there were additional inserts after him, but he was the last actual player card.) Mitchell was pretty decent in the first Tecmo Super Bowl, but by Final Edition, he was a dangerous threat in the game. Much like Mel Gray, Brian was a threat to return the kickoff every time he touched the ball and the secret to utilizing him correctly was basically to put him in the starting lineup.

G/Gs 223/16      Rush 388     Yds  1967      Avg  5.1     Td  12     Lg 85t   |
Rec  255      Yds  2336       Avg 9.2      Td  4       Lg 69  |
Kr  607   Yds   14014    Avg  23.1     Td   4       Lg   101t  |
Pr  463     Yds   4999     Avg  10.8     Td   9       Lg  84t

NFL, NFLE

Lambert, Dion

Card: Star Pics 1992
Acquired: TTM 1993, Patriots Blitz

Dion Lambert was drafted out of UCLA by the New England Patriots in the 4th round of the 1992 draft.  He earned Pac-10 Honorable Mention honors in 1990 when he made 48 tackles and broke up 4 passes, but his senior season was largely marred by a torn tendon in his right foot.  An aggressive man to man defender, at 6’1″, 190, Lambert was thought to be a nice sized defensive back that the team maybe able to slot at safety with his long arms and huge hands.  Dion was also strong for his size, rarely got blocked off the ball, and possessed tremendous closing speed.

Dion would play two seasons for New England, making 23 tackles and a fumble recovery in 1992, and 1 pick, 1 FF and 28 tackles starting 4 games in 1993. Lambert would sign with the Seahawks in 1994 where he’d play through 1995.  In 1997 the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFLE would draft Dion with their 8th round pick of the positional draft, and he’d play one season there before retiring. Since then, Dion has done some work for Greg Bell’s Athletes For Life foundation and football camps.

A nice signature in red ink on a great Star Pics 1992 card, I’d get Dion’s autograph along with a host of other Patriots at the conclusion of the 1993 season. Real nice job by the guys at Star Pics, but a common error in design is creating type that flows up the card, such as on the right of this card with the position and name of the player. Regardless, it’s still a well designed card outside of it, and the player framing inside the box is a tantalizing size to the eye combined with vivid colors and nice photography.

G/Gs 31/5     Tac  56      Sac  0         Fum  1        Int   1        Yds   0     Avg 0    Td 0    Lg 0