Tag Archives: Jacksonville Jaguars

NFL

Byner, Earnest (2)

ud91 byner MVP pset89 byner

Cards: Upper Deck 1991 Team MVP, ProSet 1989, ProSet 1989 Traded, Skybox 1992, GameDay 1992
Acquired: 2012, Canton Acquisition. 2016, Future Considerations.
See Also: Earnest Byner

After his stint as a coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars runningback coach from 2010 to 2011 Earnest Byner was signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneer staff in 2012 serving under Greg Schiano. Unfortunately Shiano’s style didn’t mesh in the pros, and he was gone after two seasons. Byner was not retained as ownership decided to clean house after 2013.

Since that time Earnest has addressed ‘The Fumble’ in public, apologizing to fans for what happened, and giving a tear-jerking recollection of it during the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary “Believeland”.   Time heals all wounds though and the vast majority of Browns fans really embrace Byner as one of their own without judgement.  It goes without saying that it’s great that Byner has been able to move on from what happened- something that he said stuck with him and changed his playing style for the remainder of his career in the NFL.

Earnest has done a lot of motivational speaking too. He also has no problem engaging his fans in public and is very popular in Cleveland. My friend DeadHorse scored these Byner autographs for me along with Kevin Mack and Greg Pruitt at an Ohio based Cleveland Browns event they attended.  DeadHorse was kind enough to accommodate me on the 3 cards which I felt were his best action shots of Byner (Skybox 1992, ProSet 1989 CLE, and GameDay 1992).

NFL

Henne, Chad

Cards: SPX 2008 (277/599), Score 2009, Score 2014, Prism 2014
Acquired: EBay 2015, TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 5/10   Received: 5/19  (9 days)

Chad Henne is an absolutely underrated quarterback.  Whenever he takes the field in place of Blake Bortles for the Jaguars against the Texans, I get very nervous. He frequently will just take off and run for 4-7 yards instead of trying for a low percentage completion.

After Chad built an impressive resume at Michigan as a 4 year starter, he was selected in the second round of the 2008 draft by the Miami Dolphins.  The heir to the throne of Chad Pennington, he played sparingly his rookie year, appearing in 3 games in mop up duty.  Chad took over the gig full time in 2009 (after a shoulder injury to Pennington) and in 14 starts, compiled a 7-6 record as a starter, throwing for almost 2900 yards and 12 TDs.  He again returned as starter in 2010, completing 301 of 490 attempts with 15 TDs.   Chad could not hold onto the starting quarterback job in 2011, fighting Matt Moore the entire season.

The Dolphins decided to go in another direction at quarterback in 2012, drafting former Texas A&M signal caller Ryan Tannehill. In the meantime, Henne was the odd man out and signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Initially he’d be Blaine Gabbert’s backup, but as the team continued to struggle,  Chad was thrust into the lineup. He’d post 11 TDs on 308 attempts, averaging a bit over 208 yards a game.  Henne was the anointed starter of the Jaguars in 2013. He’d throw a career high 503 times for 3241 yards and 13 touchdowns.  (The Jaguars would sweep the Texans for the first time in- a very long time that year.)

The Jaguars decided to start over again at the quarterback position in 2014, selecting Blake Bortles in the 1st round of the NFL Draft.
Chad’s playing time has decreased significantly since then. He saw action in 3 games in 2014, but was quickly supplanted by Bortles as the starting quarterback. Since then Blake has been almost impervious to harm, so Chad has not been on the field at all. He’s restructured his contract twice to help out the Jaguars salary cap.  Henne is a veteran now and has seen his way around many defenses in the past.  He may not have the best TD to INT ratio, but I sense there is still some tools there that some quarterback guru could groom.

In 2017 with a new coaching staff in place and a new GM in Tom Coughlin that had no ties to Bortles whatsoever- it’s clearly obvious that the franchise has become impatient with Blake. They’ve put him on a short leash with Henne waiting to start in the wings.

 

NFL

Cosby, Quan (2)



do09cl qcosby SS
Cards: Upper Deck 2009 Draft Edition (#25/350), Donruss Gridiron Gear 2009 (#706/999), Playoff Contenders 2009 Playoff Ticket, Bowman 2009 (#134/299), Donruss Threads 2009 Gridiron Kings (#10/50), Donruss Classics 2009 (#043/299), Topps Certified 2009
Acquired: IP 2015, University Coop Season Opener, IP 2016, Tiff’s Treats Grand Opening Cedar Park
See Also: Quan Cosby

bo09 qcosby LPbow09 qcosbyWell the University Coop Season Opener turned out to be a total bust in 2015. Both do09th qcosby GKdo09gg qcosbyTony DeGrate and Doug Dawson were no shows, but I was still able to parlay a few Quan Cosby cards into autographs as he was hanging out in the building.  He’d sign his Donruss Gridiron and Upper Deck cards for me at the time.

Later I reloaded and got the rest of his cards at the Tiff’s Treats Grand Opening. With some rare cards here in the GridIron Kings, Donruss Classics, and Playoff Contenders, Quan took the time to study each card intently before signing each one. Since I did not have the time to prep the Contenders card, Quan made sure the ink dried on the card.

Let’s not lie. There are some real design gems in this group. Among them, I spent the extra coinage to get a hold of this Donruss Threads Gridiron Kings patch card. The college letter patch also goes without saying. The Bowman just smacks me in the face with simplicity and finishes it off with a great photo.

About the only one that doesn’t get me out of the group is the Donruss Gridiron Gear card.  I’m not sure what is going on with the abstract deconstruction in the background.  Although Quan stands out from the background composition, he’s anchored by the strange looking artifact of photo background that looks like a #1. It just detracts more than it adds and is just way too over designed.