Cards: ProSet 1990, ProSet 1989, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o The Carolina Panthers
Sent: 5/10 Receieved: 5/20 (10 days)
Nobody cared when John Settle graduated from Appalachian State in 1987. The knock on him was primarily based on the fact he went to a small school so he didn’t face ‘big time’ competition and that he just wasn’t big enough to play at 5’9″, 207. (I mean the only thing John did was set the school’s rushing record mark and finish ranked 3rd all time in 1-AA history.) John would contact a few suitors and the Falcons would sign him to a free agent contract.
Behind starters Gerald Riggs and Rick Badanjek, John didn’t get much playing time under head coach Marion Campbell his rookie year. He’d carry the ball 19 times for 72 yards and also grab 11 receptions out of the backfield for 153 yards in 1987. 1988 however was a totally different deal for Settle, as he’d start at runningback for the Falcons (after the team traded Gerald Riggs to Washington). John started all 16 games for the team and ran for 1066 yards. In addition Settle also had 68 receptions for 570 yards. His rushing totals were the highest for a free agent RB since the AFL-NFL merger and John was named to the Pro Bowl squad. 
In 1989, as the Falcons virtually abandoned the run, Settle rushed for 689 yards. He’d have his second season with 1000+ yards from scrimmage when you included his 316 yards receiving.
1990 saw a coaching change for the Falcons though as former Oilers head coach Jerry Glanville came to town. Glanville installed the Red Gun offense, signed Mike Rozier, drafted Steve Broussard, and decided to give 1989 prospect Keith Jones more playing time. Settle suited up for only 6 games that season. He’d sign with the Redskins in 1991 winning a Super Bowl title there but didn’t suit up during the season. Settle retired after the 1992 season and went into coaching in 1994 working with his alma mater at Appalachian State.
He’d join Bill Belichick in Cleveland on his offensive staff working with runningbacks in 1995 serving the team through 1998, and in its transition to Baltimore. Settle then joined the Fresno State Bulldogs as their runningbacks coach- a position he’d hold for 8 seasons. Afterwards John’s next stop was in Wisconsin with the Badgers where Settle helped coordinate the first ever trio of 1,000 yard runningbacks in the same season. Finally, in early 2011, John was be hired by new head coach Ron Rivera to coordinate runningbacks for the Carolina Panthers. He responded to my TTM request in a quick 10 days.
Of note about John is that while Appalachian State he played for little known then head coach Mack Brown his freshman year. He is considered a member of the Bill Belichick coaching tree and while playing for the Falcons did not appear in Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo Super Bowl.
John had some nice cards here and these 3 were his most solid and complete looking cards. The ProSet 1989 card is a really nice full body shot of him dodging a would be Ram tackler while the 1990 card is a shot featuring his running style gunning to place a stiff arm. I also liked his Fleer 1990 card and how he bursts out of the top of the card borders. Also on a side note, I’d love to see the Falcons return to the ‘red look’ from the 80s, but they seem quite content with their current black look.
G/Gs 46/29 Att 439 Yds 1801 Avg 4.1 Td 10 Lg 62 |
Rec 118 Yds 1039 Avg 8.8 Td 3 Lg 36
same as a little known pop star named Michael Jackson). Michael would grab 17 receptions his rookie season while adding his first two touchdowns to his resume. 1992 would see Jackson become an incumbent at receiver where he’d make 755 yards receiving and 7 touchdowns. In 1993, he’d almost duplicate these statistics, changed his number to 81, (due to uniform number requirements,) and briefly changed his name back to Michael Dyson. An injury shortened 1994 would clear Jackson’s return for 1995 where he made 714 yards receiving and 9 touchdowns.
At first glance when I got Michael’s autograph through the mail, I was a bit upset because the initial thing I saw was the giant slash going across the card. I thought he had just marked through the card. To my relief it was part of his very unique signature. (As with many other players, I have begun to give players the duplicate cards that I have floating around in my collection to thank them for their time.) Another group of really nice cards here. I even considered adding in his Score Supplemental 1991 but thought that would be a bit over the top. ProSet was technically beaten to the punch by Hi-Pro Marketing, who released a rookie card of Michael Jackson in their Action Packed Rookies series a few months before anybody else. (Ironically they also had the first Brett Favre card on the market too.) I very much liked all three of these designs, -in particular the GameDay card stands out with its very unique squared shoulders pose of Michael, who looks like a quarterback in this image. ProSet once again delivered very solid photography on their card with an exciting action shot of Jackson sprinting down the field, while Action Packed (as noted above) provided us his first true rookie card on its embossed surface with a nice clean view of Jackson looking for the ball.