Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

NFL

Payne, Da’Ron

Card: Panini Contenders 2018
Acquired: 2018, Box Breaker

Da’Ron (or Daron) Payne is considered a rare behemoth, with not only space-eating power but the strength to go along with it. He weighs in at 6’3″, 311, and bench presses easily over 450 pounds. Da’Ron also commands the line and teams had a hard time running on him- even when using a double team. With other great talent on the line at Alabama, it took sometime for Payne to break into the starting lineup. In 2017 he finished with 53 total tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, 3 pass deflections, and a fumble recovery.  He flew up the draft boards with his solid combine results. This allowed Da’Ron to be selected 13th by the Washington Redskins. 

Turning heads in mini-camp, Daron will slide into the Redskins alignment at defensive tackle and may even play a bit of nose. A nagging ankle injury during camp though limited his reps and he didn’t really play much during the preseason.  Daron had an impressive debut in the NFL. Shifting from defensive tackle to nose depending on the alignment, Payne started all 16 games for Washington, and posted 56 combined tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 3 pass deflections and a forced fumble.

NFL, Pro Football HoF

Hanburger, Chris ‘The Hangman’

Card: Topps 1970
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 7/9 Received: 7/19      (10 days)

Chris Hanburger thought the door had closed on his attempts to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame- so he was pleasantly surprised to get the nod as a Seniors candidate in 2011. It’s a great story really. Chris has been so good to the TTM community and fans for years, so it was long overdue that the Redskins linebacker received the honor after his accolade laden career concluded. 

I mean, who knows if much was expected from the little known 18th round selection out of North Carolina in 1965. Regardless, Chris put together a remarkable 14 year career with 9 Pro Bowl nominations (1966-1969, 1972-1976) and All-Pro Honors (69, 72, 73, and 75) setting the standard for professional play at outside linebacker, durability (135 straight games started), and as a member of the Redskins’ Over the Hill Gang.

I had been wanting to get Chris’ autograph for a while, but had to find the perfect card to get signed. I had no clue that he had a Topps 1970- but considering that he was playing during that period, I should have assumed that there was this great golden era card. It was nice of him to personalize and put an inscription to the card- but it’s too bad that the inscription was slightly smudged.

G/GSTACSACFUMINTYDSAVGTDLG
187/177N/AN/A171934718.3245
NFL, Super Bowl MVP

Rypien, Mark (2)

Card: Action Packed 1990
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 12/12/16    Received:  1/3/17  (22  days)
See Also:  Mark Rypien

The first success I got in calendar 2017, Mark Rypien was kind enough to sign 1 of 3 cards I sent him. He inscribed the one card with Super Bowl XXVI MVP, which I thought was still cool.  Rypien’s family drips with athleticism.  His daughter has carried on in his footsteps and is a quarterback in the Lingerie Football League, while his Nephew, Brett is a starting quarterback for Boise St.

In 2014 the Washington Redskins inducted Mark into their Ring of Fame. Rypien spent eight seasons with the Redskins. From 1986 to 1993 he started 72 games for the Redskins, completing 1,244 passes for 15,928 yards and 101 touchdowns. Modestly, Rypien dedicated his enshrinement to his teammates and the 55,000 or so fans that showed up every week to cheer on the team during his magical 1991 Super Bowl and MVP run.