Tag Archives: action packed rookies 1991

College Football HoF, NFL

Friesz, John “Deep”

Cards: Action Packed 1992, Action Packed Rookies 1991
Acquired: TTM 1993, C/o The San Diego Chargers

John Freisz was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the 6th round of the 1990 draft. Considered to be the ‘future’ of the franchise- based on his amazing performance at Idaho leading them to an 8-0 record and throwing for over 4,000 yards- the future came sooner than anybody expected when Billy Joe Tolliver left after the season concluded.

In 1991 Friesz took over as starting quarterback of the Chargers, starting all 16 games. Allowed to flourish- he threw for 2896 yards and 12 touchdowns as a traditional drop back passer. Friesz suffered a season ending injury in the 1992 preseason and did not return until 1993, throwing 6 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. A new head coach led John in a new direction- as John became a journeyman quarterback, playing in Washington for a season, before a four season stint with Seattle starting in 1995. In 1996, (John’s best year,) he’d win 4 starts and lose only 2 putting up a respectable 86.2 quarterback rating.  In 1995, he came off the bench for the Seahawks leading the team back from a 20-0 deficit against the Denver Broncos- engineering 3 4th quarter touchdown drives. After his stint in Seattle, Friesz would play two non-discript seasons for the New England Patriots and retire.

Friesz was the epitome of the walking wounded. Over his career he broke his thumb, leg, suffered injuries to his knees and separated his non-throwing shoulder. He also spent 15 games of his rookie season on IR, and the whole 1992 season there as well. John was well liked by his teammates. With a workman like attitude and a team player, Friesz rarely if ever complained when salary cap problems, politics and injuries caused him to lose his starting job.

An avid outdoorsman, John especially enjoys fishing and is a certified Scuba diver. John’s last name is pronounced “Freez” and was nicknamed “Deep” by his teammates in college.

In 2006, John’s number was retired by Idaho and he became the school’s first inductee into the College Football HoF that year as well. In 2009 he’d also be inducted into the Inland Northwest HoF. He remains active to this day in his community participating in golf tournaments, hosting numerous charities for the Special Olympics and participating in Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America.

G/Gs 69/38     Att 1364    Comp 745    Yds 8699    Pct 54.6%
Td 45       Int 42        Rat  72.3

NFL

Jones, Henry

Card: Action Packed Rookies 1991
Acquired: TTM, C/o The Buffalo Bills 1992

The 1991 draft was considered in retrospect a fairly stellar draft class for defensive backs. A run in the first ensured that Henry Jones would be the 6th DB off the boards in that round with the 20th pick.  Among the notables taken ahead of Jones were Eric Turner, Todd Lyght and Stanley Richard. (After Jones Aeneas Williams, Merton Hanks, Todd Scott, and Darryll Lewis would all come off the board.) In the end Jones was right where he should.  Although Henry didn’t have a breakout rookie season, his sophomore season would be one for the ages. 1992 would be his AP season. He’d pull down 8 picks for 263 yards including 2 touchdowns- one of them he returned 82 yards for the score. By 1993 teams began to avoid Henry skulking about in the secondary, he did however have a return for 85 yards and a touchdown. By 1995 injuries started impacting Henry’s playing time and most of his 1996 was marred by injury. He’d return in 1997 starting 15 games. In 1998 he’d add an additional 3 picks, and in his final season with the Bills, Jones would have 2 more interceptions and a touchdown, giving him 4 for his career. His 2001 season would be spent with the Minnesota Vikings while a final season in 2002 would be set in stone with the Falcons. Henry’s interception to touchdown ratio for the amount of games played and interceptions made is impressive but aren’t considered exceptional when compared to the top defensive backs in league history, even though there are some players who have made twice as many interceptions but have half as few touchdown returns.

G/Gs 158/134    Tac  585     Sac   5    Fum 7   Int 18    Yds 455   Avg  25.3   Td  4    Lg 85T

Arena, CFL, NFL

Marinovich, Todd

Cards: Action Packed 1992, Score Supplemental 1992
Acquired: In Person, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp 1991, 1992

Todd Marinovich is a tragic story of a person who could not live up to the expectations and accolades that were heaped upon him. I remember the first time I had heard about Todd. It was the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine with him in his USC uniform proclaiming him as “Robovich”, that I became perplexed by this young athlete. I read the article and how he was born and bred to become a superstar at the next level, and even I myself after reading this magazine thought that Marinovich was destined to be the next Dan Marino. What I didn’t understand like many others was the complexity of problems that were being created for Todd because of his lifestyle. It is no fault of his parents. They wanted the best for him and went of their way to provide the best for him. A divorce however didn’t help things, and Marinovich had begun to experiment in drugs such as marijuana, alcohol and cocaine. Regardless after a relatively impressive college career at USC, the Los Angeles Raiders would elect to select Todd with their first round choice in 1991. Despite a few games in which Marinovich would flash talent, his drug use escalated as he began using other drugs such as LSD. His 1992 season, while again improving statistically resulted in him striking out of the NFL’s drug rehabilitation program before the 1993 season.  Marinovich would shift over to the CFL in 1995 to revive his career playing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers but this time injury would end his career there before he ever begun. He’d take more time off and receive serious intrest from the NFL in 1999, but would end up with the British Columbia Lions. In 2000, Todd would join the Los Angeles Avengers in the Arena league, where he’d have the best moments of his football career leading the Avengers and being named to various rookie teams, but with his drug use never being curtailed, Marinovich spiraled back out of control and out of football for good by the end of 2001. (He’d finish his career in the Arena leagues with 472 attempts, 249 completions, 3214 yards, 62 touchdowns, 21 interceptions, and an 88.5 qb rating.) Truly a tragic sports name, Marinovich has been named as one of the NFL’s greatest draft busts of all time.  Marinovich has continued to be in and out of drug treatment and in trouble with the law. He sometimes could be found at some points down on the beaches near LA skateboarding or clearing barnacles from boats. I’d get Todd’s autograph on his Action Packed Rookies card in training camp in 1991 but by his second year his autograph had radically changed to just ‘Todd’.

G/Gs  8/8    Att 205    Comp 104     Yds 1345  Pct 50.7%    Td 8   Int 9   Rat 66.4