Tag Archives: oakland raiders

NFL

Edwards, Trent

Cards: Playoff Prestige 2009, Score 2009, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 11/7   Received: 11/23   (16 days)

Trent Edwards played for the Stanford Cardinal from 2003-2006.  He’d post 5429 yards on 487 of 865 passing, for 36 TDs to 33 interceptions over his time there and be selected in the 3rd round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. He surprisingly started  for  9 games his rookie year for the Bills and threw for 1630 yards on 151 of 269 passing. While his TD to INT ratio (7 to 8) was troubling, all signs pointed to up for the young signal caller.  Against the Dolphins, he’d notch a career high 4 TDs in a 38-17 win.  

In 2008, Trent came out red hot as he won his first 5 of 6 overall, but a concussion that he suffered during a week 5 loss to the Cardinals was said to have contributed towards his long term struggles the rest of the year as the Bills lost the next 6 of 8 to finish 7-9 overall. After struggling through part of the 2009 season due to injuries, a porous offensive line, and inconsistency- it appeared that the Trent Edwards experiment was on its back 9.  

Although he opened 2010 as the starter for the Bills, Trent’s time with the team was short.  He’d be cut after the second game in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick. 

Claimed off of waivers by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Trent would back up David Garrard at quarterback. He’d see some playtime as an injury substitution, but lose both his games against the Titans, and later against the Houston Texans. After failing to catch on with the Oakland Raiders in 2011, Trent joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012 and completed 2 of 2 passes for 14 yards- but this would be the final NFL action he’d see in his career. He’d spend the next year or so bouncing on and off the rosters of the Bears and the Raiders (again) before finally deciding to hang up the cleats in 2014.

Trent has some really nice looking cards, and the Rookies and Stars and Score are some of my favorites to get signed. He has a solid autograph that really goes over nicely on these cards. I like the Playoff Prestige when lined up next to the Score card, as they are obviously from the same sequence of shots.

Trent is now involved with helping to make the game more high tech investing in and being a part of a firm that creates VR head set technology for quarterbacks to view their complete 360 surroundings. 

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CFL, NFL

Hill, Kenny ‘Trill’

Card: Panini Contenders 2018
Acquired: 2018, Box Breaker

Here’s an interesting card from one of those blaster boxes of Panini I’ve become so loathe of recent. If I told you 4 years ago, Kenny Hill would be on a TCU card and not be enshrined alongside Johnny Manziel as a one of the Texas A&M great quarterbacks, you would think I was mad- but here we are.

Backing up for Manziel for just one year in 2014, Kenny was handed the keys to the Aggies fortunes a year later. He would not disappoint in his first start- breaking Manziel’s single game school passing record (511 yards), and Jerrod Johnson’s single game school record (44 completions), against then #9 South Carolina. Almost immediately sensing an opportunity Hill trademarked his moniker ‘The Trill’ for promotional purposes- but after warming up against what turned out to be mid-tier talent, Hill’s number began to tail off against tougher opponents. After losing 3 straight games, he’d be benched- and then suspended for 2 games.  Was the pressure too much at AtM or was the school just not patient enough? Who really knows? Whatever the circumstances, Kenny transferred to TCU in 2016. On the season it should be noted he threw 23 TDs to just 8 interceptions and completed 66.7% of his passes.

After a subpar 2016, Kenny again lit up the scoreboard, bringing his signature style of football to the Horned Frogs posting almost identical numbers to his year as starter at AtM. In his final game he’d beat the Stanford Cardinal 39-37 in the Valero Bowl, as TCU finished ranked 9th in the nation.

Kennny was unselected in the 2018 NFL Draft. He’d sign with the Oakland Raiders, but was quickly cut. Later he’d be picked up by the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL, but is rumored to be high on the wishlist of the upstart AAF San Antonio franchise.

NFL

Joseph, Karl

Card: Panini Contenders 2016
Acquired: 2016, Box Breaker

Karl Joseph was counted on from day one by the West Virginia Mountaineers to anchor their secondary.  In his Freshman year of 2012, he put up 104 tackles, and generally was counted on to be an enforcer for much of his first 3 years playing for WVU.  During his Senior year he led the NCAA in interceptions (5) before a knee injury ended his season prematurely.

With the 14th pick overall in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Raiders selected Joseph to help address the depth on the backend of their defense. He made 10 starts in his rookie season, recording an interception, 6 passes defensed, 51 tackles, and a fumble recovery.

2018 was a tumultuous season for the Raiders with many key pieces of the team being traded to other teams. Karl was no exception, but after turning in a decent 2017 from free safety with 79 combined tackles and an interception, he turned it up a notch in 2018 and really started playing his best ball during December. While the jury is still out on if he’s on the outs after the season concludes, no one can say Joseph didn’t show up in the end.

This is a stunning card. I love the color combination and the photo composition. His name is in a reflective foil, barely able to be made out of the scan, but overall, this is a great set.