Tag Archives: buffalo bills

AAF, NFL, NFLE

Metzelaars, Pete

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 7/3 Received: 8/13 (41 days)

Pete Metzelaars made his mark at tiny Wabash, as a two sport star playing basketball and football. He was selected in the 3rd round of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. After catching just 27 passes in 3 seasons for the Seahawks, Pete was traded to the Buffalo Bills in 1985.

He caught 49 passes for 485 yards and 3 TDs in 1986 starting his first 16 game slate. In 1988, Pete put up another 33 passes for 438 yards and a TD. After a few years being used primarily as a blocking tight end Pete saw an uptick in 1992, and then caught a career high 68 passes for 609 yards and 4 TDs in ’93 starting all 16 games for the first time since 1989. Metzelaars played one more season for the Bills in 1994, adding another 49 catches for 428 yards and 5 TDs.

In 1995, Pete was allowed to walk via free agency. He joined the expansion Carolina Panthers for a season catching 20 passes and recording 3 TDs. He then played 2 more additional seasons for the Detroit Lions in 1996 and 1997 catching 17 passes in both years. Metzelaars retired after the ’97 season, and decided to go into coaching.

Pete spent 5 years honing his craft at the high school level as an offensive coordinator. He then coached in Europe with the Barcelona Dragons in 2003, and Wingate College as well. In 2004, Pete joined the Indianapolis Colts where he saw the most success, coaching the offensive line from 2004-2011. He then saw a one year stint as tight ends coach of the Bills in 2012, and then the Chargers in 2014 and 2015. After spending another two years back at the high school level, Metzelaars coached offensive line for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football in 2019.

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NFL, WLAF

Nies, John

Card: Ultimate WL 1992
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 4/3/20 Received: 4/13/20 (10 days)

John Nies was a punter for the Arizona Wildcats in 1989. He had a unique one step approach to punts that allowed him to down 15 of them inside the 20 to lead the nation. He only logged one season as a starter for Arizona, but had 58 punts for 2406 yards and a 41.6 yard average. In 1987 and 1988, he saw action primarily on the kickoff team, booming 88 kicks, of which only 29 were returned by opposing teams. He was selected in the 6th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, and punted 5 times for 174 yards in 4 games.

In 1991, Nies would be the 4th special teams player off the board in the World League of American Football positional draft, selected by the Sacramento Surge. He then saw time at both kicker and punter, splitting time with Kendall John Trainor. John finished 11 of 12 on extra points and 4 of 7 on field goals. He punted 23 times for 902 yards including a 53 yard long.

He’d return to the franchise for the 1992 season, and although he’d see an uptick in his kicking stats, Nies was relied upon much more as a punter again as Cary Blanchard quickly established himself as the much more consistent kicker.

Since retiring from football, Nies has been a fitness ambassador with Lululemon, a fashion model, actor, and ESPN host. Currently he teaches East meets West health and wellness philosophies at his group fitness and wellness center, The Power Center, in Red Bank, NJ.

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AAF, NFL

Woodrum, Josh

Cards: Topps AAF 2019 Certified, Topps AAF 2019
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 9/26 Received: 10/9 (11 days)
Failure: 2019, C/o The Salt Lake City Stallions, C/o The Washington Redskins

Josh Woodrum was quarterback for the Liberty Flames from 2012-2015. He finished his college career going 833/1304 for 10,266 yards with 61 TDs to 30 interceptions. He was one of only two mid-major QBs to be invited to the NFL combine- with the other being Carson Wentz. Although Woodrum did turn some heads, he was not selected in the 2016 NFL Draft.

He’d be a free agent signee of the New York Giants, and then see time on the rosters of the Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. Obviously on the radar of a lot of teams but unable to latch onto a roster- Josh signed with the Salt Lake City Stallions of the AAF in 2018.

The AAF then decided that a few teams were stockpiling talent at QB- so in order to fairly distribute the talent they came up with the Protect or Pick QB Draft. The Stallions liked what they had, so they selected Josh with their first pick in the QB Draft (8th overall). Involved in a QB battle with BJ Daniels, Woodrum became the defacto starter after Daniels suffered a season ending injury during the preseason.

Josh started 7 games for the Stallions, and finished with 1,449 yards on 146/227 passing, 6 TDs to 8 interceptions. He finished second in the league, completing 64.3% of his passes, and overall as the 4th highest rated QB with a 76.4 QB Rating.

He joined the Redskins after the AAF folded but did not make the squad. Currently he is a free agent.

Well it took a while for me to find Josh, but after some persistence, I was able to track him down. I sent to him a mere days before the league folded, so I reloaded and tried him with the Redskins, where I failed again. Luckily Mark (Mark’s Signing Bonus) and I worked together to corner the AAF market and he had already gotten him at his home address- so technically the 3rd try was the charm here.