CARDS: Panini Prestige 2010, Score 2010 ACQUIRED: TTM 2024, C/o The New York Giants SENT: 12/11/24 RECEIVED: 1/6/25 (26 days)
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
Mike Kafka played QB at Northwestern from 2006-’09.
He’d initially see the field as a change of pace- rushing for 263 yards in 2006, and 321 in 2008.
It wasn’t until 2009 that Mike would take over as the starting QB for the Wildcats.
He led the conference with 319 completions, 492 attempts, a completion percentage of 64.8 and 3,430 yards.
In the 2010 Outback Bowl he’d break Bowl game records with 78 attempts, 48 completions, 532 passing yards- and 5 interceptions.
Selected in the 4th round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
2013 led Kafka to the offseason rosters of both the Pats and Jags.
Then it was off to the Bucs (’14), and Vikings (’15).
His final stops landed him with the Titans and Bengals- both on their practice squads in 2015.
By 2016, Mike was off to the coaching world as a graduate assistant at Northwestern.
He joined the Chiefs in 2017 and served in a variety of coaching duties from Offensive quality control, quarterbacks coach, and passing game coordinator through the 2021 season.
2022 led Mike to the Giants as their offensive coordinator.
He’d be promoted to offensive coordinator and assistant head coach in 2024.
NOTES:
Mike had some nice cards and I had wanted to get them signed. The Panini Prestige ’10 really lends itself to an autograph with its clean and parallel design. I had asked Mike to draw up a play for me, but he just kept the index card. No big deal.
Billy Volek played QB for Fresno State from 1996-’99.
A QB who really knew how to make good decisions on his throws, Volek only threw 12 interceptions in 934 attempts.
In his Senior campaign in 1999, he completed 235 of 355 passes, 2,559 and yards.
His 66.2 completion percentage, 30 TDs, 8.52 yards per attempt, and 152.9 QB rating led the conference.
He was signed by the Tennessee Titans as a UDFA following the 2000 Draft.
Despite his solid numbers, Volek went undrafted- partially because of a growing knock on Fresno State quarterbacks being ‘system quarterbacks’.
He saw little playing time until 2003, winning a week 14 contest against the Buffalo Bills, where he threw for 295 yards and 2 TDs on 26 of 41 throws.
In 2004, Volek was thrust into action as injuries to starter Steve McNair caught up to him.
Although he responded with 2 400 yard contests back to back- the Titans tumbled to a 1-8 record with him as starting QB (5-11 overall).
The season would be Billy’s most successful in the league as he completed 218 of 257 passes for 2,486 yards to go along with 18 TDs and 10 interceptions.
With McNair signing with Baltimore after the 2005 season, Billy was thought to be inline to become the next starting QB of the Titans.
However, the team brought in former QB Kerry Collins to compete with him and then drafted Vince Young.
With the writing on the wall, Volek was traded to the San Diego Chargers.
Seeing only limited snaps behind Phillip Rivers, he threw for only 249 yards and a TD over the remaining 5 years of his career.
NOTES:
I was pretty confident I’d get Billy back in under a year as he’d been tracking out that way. My gripe was that I went out of my way to get a Leaf Rookies & Stars card of his, that he switched out for the pedestrian Topps card. Ah well.
