4 year starter at Oklahoma from 2009-12 who was heir to Sam Bradford at quarterback.
Completed 405 of 617 passes for 4718 yards and 38 TDs in Sophomore campaign.
Finished college career with 123 passing TDs, 63.6 completion percentage, and 16646 yards passing.
4th round selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers who intended to groom Jones to become long term backup or future starter to replace Ben Rothlisberger.
Didn’t see any significant action until the 2015 season as quarterback injuries wracked the Steelers.
In first game led Pittsburgh to comeback victory over Cardinals throwing for 165 yards and two TDs.
Saw sporadic playing time over the next 2 seasons putting together some solid numbers.
Cut in early September of 2018 after losing out on a quarterback competition against Mason Rudolph,
Joined the Jaguars later that year as an injury replacement for Blake Bortles.
After a short stint with the Raiders in early 2019, was courted by the AAF, and the San Antonio Commanders– but declined their offer.
Later was reunited with his former college coach Bob Stoops who signed him to play for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL.
Topps XFL 2020, Stars of the XFL, #1
NOTES:
After I saw a few successes from Landry online through Facebook groups, with users who refused to disclose his address- I figured out the address myself and sent it out. I broke a cardinal rule and shared the address with a few friends before I got mine back. Thus they got theirs back signed and I got back… nothing. In the meantime, I got his certified off of Ebay, and waited about a year to resend to which I was able to get him on the three non-certified cards above.
Landry is named after former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. In a game that I was attending in Dallas, Houston Roughnecks defensive back Charles James (after the Roughnecks intercepted Landry Jones for the 3rd time in the first half) was caught on a live mic saying, “Get him the f*ck out of here!”
Philip Nelson split his time in college with Minnesota (2012-2013) and East Carolina (2015-2016). His best year was in his Senior year with the Pirates during 2016. Philip threw for 2621 yards and 16 TDs (8 interceptions) completing 237 of 349 throws, for an impressive 67.9 completion percentage. Philip wasn’t selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, but later attended camp with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL.
Philip was selected in the 3rd round of the Pick or Protect AAF Draft in 2019 by the San Diego Fleet. He’d quickly move up the depth chart behind Mike Bercovici after #1 overall pick Josh Johnson signed with the NFL. Philip was pressed into duty late in the Fleet’s inaugural game against the San Antonio Commanders. He’d then be named starter for Week 2, and lead San Diego to wins in Week 2 (Atlanta) and Week 3 (San Antonio) but during week 4 against the Memphis Express, Philip suffered a season ending shoulder injury. It was a shame as the Fleet had found their groove under Nelson and the offense was really clicking. He’d finish the season completing 45 of 77 passes for 513 yards and 3 TDs to 3 interceptions, while rushing for 82 yards on 16 carries.
The following year Nelson was selected by the Dallas Renegades of the XFL 2020. He’d see action right out of the gate with starter Landry Jones sidelined for the opener. Then after Jones was injured during Week 4 contest against the Roughnecks, Philip came in again- almost rallying the Renegades to victory over the Houston. He’d start the following week against the New York Guardians before COVID ended the XFL season after 5 games. Nelson completed 62 passes for 439 yards and 3 picks, while rushing for 25 yards on 6 carries on the year.
Philip sent me a nice note with his response thanking me for being a fan. He was pumped that The Rock had bought the league, and dropped in two copies of his Topps certified autographs for me to keep!
Cards: Topps AAF Certified Player Issue 2011, Upper Deck College Legends 2011 Bowl Game Heroes Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home Sent: 4/22/20 Received: 4/29/20 (7 days) See Also: Daryl Johnston, Daryl Johnston (2), Daryl Johnston (3)
I really hustled hard for Daryl Johnston this time around. I had seen on a few sites that he was giving away his player issue version of his certified Topps AAF 2019 card- that I did not have, and along with the fact that he was GM of the Commanders, and it was super expensive on the secondary market, I really wanted to get my paws on that card. I wrote a solid 9 page letter talking about how our lives had intertwined over the last- 30 ish years or so. It was the longest letter I’d ever written to a player.
Daryl has been very good to the TTM community, and as a whole has been a gracious signer outside of those rare instances. Instead of flooding him with cards, I just sent this one Upper Deck College Legends card and asked him for the certified one, since I was a season ticket holder to the Commanders. I was very happy when he responded in no time flat and added the tag #Swords Up! giving the Commanders card a bit of personalization. It gave me a nice bounce in my step for the day.
I had high hopes that he’d pen an inspired response to me about his AAF experience, but the stories that I had read led me to believe that he was caught just as flat footed as the rest of us, even though he was fighting in the trenches everyday for the league. After his AAF experience, Daryl went on to join the XFL 2020 Dallas Renegades, and despite the boasted money behind it, the league folded only after 5 games due to COVID concerns.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
