Card: Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009
Acquired: COMC, 2020
Vincent Jackson’s pro career started back in 2005- when Drew Brees still played for the San Diego Chargers. A second round pick out of Northern Colorado, Jackson earned All-American honors as a punt returner and is the school’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, kick return yards, punt return yards, and receiving touchdowns. He grew slowly into the Chargers offense, but with maturation of Philip Rivers at quarterback, Vincent posted back to back 1,000 yard receiving seasons in 2008 and 2009- earning his first Pro Bowl trip in the latter year. After an injury shortened 2010, Vincent returned to form and the Pro Bowl in 2011.
A coveted free agent in 2012, Vincent opted to sign with the Buccaneers and continued his Pro Bowl form. He’d post career highs with 1,384 yards, a 19.2 yard average, and a 95 yard long (average and long catch led the NFL). Jackson posted 2 more 1,000+ yard seasons in both 2013 and 2014, wrapping up his career after the 2016 season.
A beautiful card here of Vincent Jackson from Donruss in the final year of the company before the label transitioned over to Panini. Gold Stars was a subset of cards I really liked and I loved the gold paint blotch where they affixed the autograph sticker to. A very nice touch. The two road stripes at the bottom pretty much gave us a roadmap per say into what the 2010 edition was going to look like.
| G/GS | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
| 155/137 | 540 | 9080 | 16.8 | 57 | 95T |
UPDATE: 2/15/21- Vincent’s family reported him as a missing person on 2/10 and a welfare check was performed at that time. He had been staying in a hotel in Tampa for the last few weeks, and was found today deceased by hotel staff.