Cards: Upper Deck 2002 XL, Scoreboard 1997, Upper Deck Houston Texans 2002
Acquired: In Person 5/19, 610 Houston Fan Fest 2013

Seth Payne has always been a model player and leader where ever he went, from his days at Cornell and on into the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and later the Houston Texans.

At Cornell, Seth received All-Ivy League 1st or 2nd team honors from 1994-1996. His 19 career sacks from the defensive end position, set the school record. He finished his career at the school with 34 games played, 182 tackles, 25 tackles for losses, 19 sacks, and 1 forced fumble and recovery. Coming from a small school, probably worked against Payne, but his 6-4 , 290 frame bode well for him to transition from end to tackle in the NFL. The Jacksonville Jaguars made Seth their 4th round pick of the 1997 draft where he made the transition slowly into the starting lineup. By 1999 though, Payne was a fulltime starter. He played through the 2001 season with the Jaguars recording his best season that year with 5 sacks and 55 tackles.

At this point the Jaguars were in salary cap hell, so to get out of it, they arranged with the expansion Houston Texans a deal- take Tony Boselli with the first pick, and the Jaguars would
make Seth Payne and Gary Walker available for the Texans to grab as well. This would help alleviate some of the Jaguars cap purgatory. Former Jaguars defensive coordinator (1999-2000) Dom Capers and Texans head coach, jumped at the offer.

Seth was moved to nose tackle in 2002. He recorded a career high 65 tackles and the Texans first safety in the team’s first game against the Dallas Cowboys.  After injury claimed his 2003 campaign, Payne returned to form in 2004 with 2 sacks and 51 tackles. In 2005, he hustled his way to 4 sacks and 59 tackles, but injuries claimed the majority of his 2006 season, and while Seth survived the initial change over from Capers to new head coach Gary Kubiak, he’d be cut in early 2007. Payne at the time of his departure was the longest tenured member of the defense and the last member of the Texans initial expansion draft to be cut. Although the Jaguars resigned him later on, Seth was cut in training camp before the next regular season.

Seth at this time has joined the Houston Sports Radio 610 team. At Fan Fest this year, he signed these three cards for me, even remarking that the (hideous) Scoreboard college card of him, was actually a photo from his junior season when he was mobbing Columbia tailback ( and future NFL defensive end) Marcellus Wiley. Wiley was a short yardage back at the time, and clocked in generously at 6-4, 275, so when he and Payne collided, it provided fans quite the show.

G/Gs 121/98    Tac 333     Sac 17.5       Fum 3
Int 0      Yds 0     Avg -.-     Td 0     Lg -.-