Tag Archives: Atlanta Falcons

NFL, usfl

Eatman, Irv

Gameday 1992, #201
Pro Set 1989, #170
Score 1990, #76

CARDS: Pro Set 1989, Score 1990, Gameday 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 5/18/22 RECEIVED: 6/2/22 (15 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Clocking in at 6’6″, 271, big OT Irv Eatman played college ball at UCLA.
  • He was moved to OT in his Senior season after playing DL most of his career at the school.
  • Selected by both the Philadelphia Stars (USFL) and the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) in the respective drafts for each league.
  • He opted to join the USFL playing for the Birmingham Stars in 1984.
  • In 1986, after the USFL collapsed, Irv took his trench work to the Kansas City Chiefs.
  • Irv saw action at both RT and LT, before a knee injury cost him his starting job in 1990.
  • Eatman signed as a FA with the New York Jets in 1991, helping shore up their OL.
  • 1993 saw Irv return out west playing for the Rams, who needed help on the line after the retirement of Jackie Slater.
  • The next season, he’d play for the Falcons- but only saw action in 4 games.
  • I seem to remember at this point Irv was considered a bit washed up coming into his 13th season.
  • The HOUSTON Oilers signed him in 1995 and I remember not being too enthusiastic about the signing.
  • But much to my surprise I was wrong, Irv came through, and in fact started all final 16 games of his career in 1996 in H-Town.
  • Irv went into coaching starting in1999 coaching with the Packers and Steelers (’00), as an OL coach.
  • In 2001, Irv joined Dick Vermeil’s staff in KC, where he coached the OL through the 2005 season.
  • After coaching for the Raiders in 2006, Irv decided to step away from professional coaching to spend more time with family and raising his son.
  • Since then he’s done a lot of charitable work, and worked in youth sports camps.

ACCOLADES:

  • All USFL All-Star 1984-’86
  • USFL Man of the Year

NOTES:

Irv had some great cards, and with two of them being set needs, I sent these two out. As an added bonus he was also a HOUSTON Oiler.

AAF, Arena, CFL, NFL

Jones, Malachi

Topps AAF 2019, #83
Topps AAF 2019 Certified, #AU-MJ

CARDS: Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF 2019 Certified
ACQUIRED: 2020, Box Breaker. 2021, Future Considerations
FAILURE: TTM 2019, C/o Home

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Malachi Jones played for 2012-’15 at WR for Appalachian State.
  • An UDFA of the Atlanta Falcons in 2016, he’d be cut after mini camp.
  • Malachi took his game to the NAL to the High Country Grizzlies in 2017.
  • In 10 contests, he caught 66 passes for 685 yards and 16 TDs.
  • After a short stint in the American Arena League’s Atlanta Havoc, he signed with the Albany Empire in 2018.
  • He had a solid debut, catching 77 passes for 1156 yards and 29 TDs.
  • After being signed and cut by the Bears, Malachi signed with the Atlanta Legends of the AAF in late 2018.
  • Despite the team’s QB woes, he caught 22 passes for 312 yards and 2 TDs over 8 contests.
  • After the league folded abruptly, Malachi resigned with the Albany Empire in 2019.
  • He had a spectacular return to the Arena Football League with 96 catches for 1,440 yards and 25 touchdown catches.
  • Malachi helped the team win the Arena Bowl XXXII after the season.
  • Although he was selected by the Seattle Dragons of the relaunched XFL, Jones opted to sign with the Montreal Alouettes.
  • In 2021, he returned to the Albany Empire, but the league quickly fell apart.
  • This led Malachi to play for the Carolina Cobras in 2022.

ACCOLADES:

  • NAL Offensive Rookie of the Year 2017
  • Arena Football Offensive Rookie of the Year 2018
  • Arena Football Wide Receiver of the Year 2018

NOTES:

I hadn’t had any luck with Malachi, when a friend of mine on Facebook who knew him, reached out and said he could get him for me.

He also collected World League stuff like I did. I helped him out on a few addresses, and he helped me. Then like that, overnight, he disabled his Facebook and I never saw him again.

Later Malachi had a good laugh when I sent him a Tweet of me in my Atlanta Legends Malachi Jones jersey sneaking in to represent the AAF during an XFL 2020 broadcast in H-Town.

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Carey, Richard

CARD: Wildcard WL 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2020, C/o Work
SENT: 8/26/20 RECEIVED: 9/4/20 (8 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Richard Carey played DB at Idaho, where he recorded 111 career tackles.
  • Going undrafted he latched on with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1989 as an UDFA.
  • He’d pick off a pass, recover a fumble, and see some spot kick and punt return duties while with the Bengals.
  • This led to a one year stint with the Buffalo Bills in 1990.
  • After an off-season appearance with the Falcons in 1991, Carey joined the New York-New Jersey Knights of the World League.
  • He picked off 2 passes- returning one for 17 yards.
  • Following the World League’s reorganization, Richard decided to play for the Arena Football League.
  • With the Rockers, he played two seasons, with 1993 being his best season as a pro totaling 60.5 total tackles, 19 pass breakups, a fumble recovery, and a pick.
  • He’d also catch 8 passes for 77 yards and a TD- as back then Arena players went both ways.
  • It’s unknown what Carey was doing from 1994-’95, but he appeared again one last time on the radar of the Tampa Bay Storm in 1996.
  • He’d drop 33 tackles, and 7 pass breakups to close out his career.

NOTES:

Another deep cut here that got lost in the shuffle of the 2020 COVID push, Richard signed this card in the midst of the pandemic for me. It’s really true what they say- As you get older time tends to move faster- fly by, and unfortunately, I’ve forgotten the background behind how I got this autograph.

TACSACFUMINTYDSAVGTDLG
N/a0115505
NFL
TACSACFUMINTYDSAVGTDLG
N/a002178.5017
WL
TACSACFUMINTYDSAVGTDLG
930120000
Arena