Tag Archives: New England Patriots

NFL, ufl

Palmer, Chris

Hartford Colonials 2010 Team Issue

Card: Hartford Colonials 2010 Team Issued Card
Acquired: TTM 2021, C/o Home
Sent: 2/22 Received: 3/11 (17 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Chris Palmer was a QB for Southern Connecticut State from 1969 to 1971.
  • He quickly went into coaching in 1972 seeing stops with Connecticut, Lehigh, and Colgate as a positional coach.
  • After working with the Montreal Concordes of the CFL in 1983, he worked in the USFL with the New Jersey Generals in 84 and 85.
  • Palmer’s first HC gig came in 1986, where he’d work with New Haven, and later Boston University.
  • His first taste of the NFL came with the Houston Oilers in 1990 as a WR coach, before working with the Patriots from 1993-1996.
  • After helping Jacksonville’s offense reach new heights in 97/98, Chris was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1999.
  • He’d work as the OC for the expansion Houston Texans in 2002. A position he’d hold through the 2005 season.
  • Palmer worked with the Cowboys (06) and Giants (07-09) as a QB coach.
  • In 2010 Chris would serve as both the GM and the HC of the Hartford Colonials of the UFL- posting a 3-5 record.
  • Chris spent the next few years working with the Titans, 49ers, and Bills, and in 2019 worked as an AD with New Haven.

ACCOLADES:

  • New Haven Chargers Athletics Hall of Fame 1997

NFL

Coach Chris Palmer, 62 Cafe

NOTES:

Tony Sparano, Romeo Crennel and Ken Whisenhunt are considered children of the Chris Palmer tree. Chris himself is considered an acolyte of the Bill Parcells tree, although an argument could be made he was from the Jack Pardee tree, since he gave him his first professional break at the NFL level with the Oilers. Chris is also considered to be one of the major architects behind the maturation of Eli Manning as a passer. While coaching with the Browns, Palmer appeared as himself on an episode of The Drew Carey Show.

Hi Lee,

Good to hear from you. The Oilers were great! Beating Dallas opening nite was outstanding. The UFL was a fun time.

Love Football,

Chris Palmer

Palmer has always had a fond place in my heart, since he was a coach with the Houston Oilers, and was the OC with the Texans when they beat the Cowboys in their Franchise debut (02). I had been looking for some sort of card of his for years but I gave up sometime ago, when a friend of mine CFLFanInPhilly sent me this card (along with a stack of others) to try to get autographed. I jumped at the chance to add Chris. He added this very nice note and wrote up a play for me as well (52 Cafe).

WLTPCT
5270.156
AAF, CFL, NFL, XFL

Williams, Trey

Cards: Panini Contenders 2015, Crown Royale 2015, Panini Prestige 2015, Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF 2019 NOW, Topps XFL 2020, Topps XFL 2020 Certified
Acquired: COMC, 2020. EBay, 2020. TTM C/o Home 2020
Sent: 11/12 Received: 11/21 (9 days)

Trey Williams hails from Texas A&M- a school full of rich history in producing runningbacks. While playing for the Aggies, he ran 204 time for 1343 yards and 18 TDs in 3 years (2012-2014). What was most impressive was his gaudy 6.6 yards per carry. He also caught 38 passes for 330 yards and a TD as well. Although he had a solid combine, Williams ultimately was not selected in the 2015 draft.

He’d sign with his hometown Houston Texans after the draft, then quickly join the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, the Patriots, the Dolphins, and finally the Colts- all before 2015 came to a close. After being cut by the Colts in mid-2016, Trey kept hustling. He signed with the Steelers early in 2017, then briefly joined the Argos in the CFL. In November of 2017, Williams signed with the Dallas Cowboys again where he’d be waived in final cuts during 2018.

I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be to have highlight film that made preseason sportscenter.. such as scoring a TD on his first ever preseason carry from 20+ yards out, or returning a punt for a 64 yard TD with the Steelers- but somehow miss out on making the squad.

Trey opted to head to the new frontier of the Alliance of American Football in 2019. He’d be assigned to the San Antonio Commanders. After missing the first two weeks of the season for personal reasons, Trey played in the next 6 finishing with 40 carries for 205 yards and a TD. He’d also catch 9 passes for 71 yards and a TD as well.

An exciting sparkplug, Williams provided a change of pace to lead back Kenneth Farrow II in the Commanders backfield. An outside the tackles kind of guy, Williams is very good at dodging people in space. This makes him quite effective at screen passes and out in the flat. He quickly became my favorite player just behind Greg Ward Jr.

His finest moment in the AAF came in Week 7 against the formidable Salt Lake City Stallions. The Stallions had a very stubborn defense. After trading field position for most of the game and keeping it close, QB Marquise Williams dropped a screen pass out to Trey. He bobbed and weaved through the SLC defense 36 yards and then dove into the endzone for a TD. It was really incredible to watch!

After the AAF folded, Trey joined the XFL 2020, where he was the first player selected in the open portion of the draft by the Seattle Dragons. He’d be reunited with his coach from the Commanders, Mike Riley, and a bevvy of former teammates including Kenneth Farrow. He ran 34 times for 122 yards and a TD for the Dragons, and catch 8 passes for 44 yards and a TD- before the league folded after week 5.

I first missed out on an in person signing in Houston during 2019. I would’ve driven there just to get his autograph on a bunch of cards and meet him, but I had been to in person events frequently that year, and I did not wish to antagonize my wife. I also had the Topps AAF Now card I was worried about risking, so these just sat, and then I added a few more to the stack including the XFL card.

After a while I just decided to buy a few certified cards of Trey, thinking I’d call it a day, but a few months later my partner in crime, Mark, acted on an address I had long suspected of being Trey’s- and hit pay dirt. It took me a bit to get back to Trey. I miss the Commanders and the AAF a lot, but frankly, we all know it wouldn’t have made it probably through 2020 – because of the pandemic. (See the XFL 2020.) Still after being stuck in the mud the last few months on AAF/XFL send outs, I went back to it taking the risk that Trey would ink these cards. I would have preferred a different color than silver- but I can’t look this gift horse in the mouth.

NFL, University of Texas

Thomas, David

Cards: Leaf Rookies & Stars 2006, Upper Deck Rookie Debut 2006, Fleer 2006, Sage Hit 2006
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 12/13 Received: 4/13 (101 days)

David Thomas played tight end at the University of Texas from 2002-2005. Over his 4 years at UT he caught 98 passes for 1367 yards and 15 TDs, quietly setting school marks for TEs at the school. He’d be selected in the 3rd round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

Even then the Patriots were stacked at tight end, with stalwart Benjamin Watson leading the way his rookie year. In 2007, an injury sidelined Thomas the entire year. In 2009, David was traded to the New Orleans Saints and saw his greatest success with the squad posting 35 receptions for 356 yards and a TD, with 18 of those catches going for 1st downs, in a hybrid H-Back role. New Orleans went on to notch its first Super Bowl title that year. David had another solid season for the Saints in 2010 with 30 receptions for 219 yards and 2 TDs and 11 firsts. He continued to play for the Saints, retiring after the 2012 season.

My friend Mark gets full credit for finding this one. He got a success a few months ago and shot me the address. After a few months wait David signed these cards for me. I like the Upper Deck Rookie Debut and the Leaf Rookies & Stars cards, while the Sage and Fleer were spot good looking cards.

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