Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

NFL, University of Texas

Orakpo, Brian (2)

Cards: Panini UT 2015 Patch, Pacific 2009. Score 2009, Upper Deck 2009, Press Pass 2009, Topps 2012, Score 2015*, Panini UT 2015, Donruss 2015, Panini Threads 2011.
Acquired: IP 2018, GiGi’s Cupcakes Soft Grand Opening.
IP 2018, T-Mobile Player Event, IP 2018, Back to Camp GiGi’s event
* Future considerations Lance
See Also: Brian Orakpo

Brian Orakpo and Michael Griffin had been hitting the social media circuit for a bit talking up their new joint venture- GiGi’s Cupcakes. Apparently when they both played for the Titans in Nashville they got hooked on the confectionary treat and decided that they wanted to be franchisees. Brian and Michael had posted some great photos of them cutting their teeth and learning the ropes behind the construction of their store in Bee Cave. Both of the alluded to a grand opening ‘in a few weeks’, so I kept my eyes peeled for any updates along the way. I just so happened to check their feed after I got back from the Bastrop Boot Event, and found out that Griff and Rak had done a soft opening that very same day. I was a bit miffed. The next morning I called them up, and was told that they were open today and come on down.

I battled my way about 30 miles through the sometimes frozen rain to get there, but once I arrived I was greeted by a beaming Orakpo and Griffin. (I was really shocked as the last time I saw Rak, he was a bit disgruntled, and begrudgingly gave me his autograph.) I decided to get a 4-pack (only reserving the Red Velvet for myself) and asking him to choose the remainder for me. He filled out the box nicely over small talk and rang me out. (Admittedly, it was a weird experience to have an NFL player working a register for me.)  We even got in a good laugh over their instagram, as I wholly expected somebody to be tossing dough in the back like they were making a pizza. Brian had no problem signing these 2 cards for me. Heck, I probably could’ve gotten him to sign a few more- he was in such a good mood.

Talking about going from worst to first. It was a great experience meeting him again. I even told him how I was hurt he signed with the Titans and not the Texans, and we had a good laugh at my expense over it. – And the best part: THE CUPCAKES WERE AMAZING.

Later in the year I caught up with Spoodog and his wife. I hadn’t seen them in quite sometime- either a Priest Holmes signing or a Cedric Griffin signing well over a year ago. A lot had changed for me with a baby taking need over anything else and his job just sort of precluded everything else. It was great catching up with them. In fact a whole host of people showed up I hadn’t seen in a while. This made the wait for Orakpo even easier. It wasn’t much of a line at the T-Mobile location, but it was frustrating because we were told the wrong location and shuttled back and forth until we got to the right place.

Rak was uneven at this event for me. I tried joking with him, and I let him know that I enjoyed the cupcakes, and heck that they may have been the first sugar my baby ever tasted, but I must have rubbed him the wrong way either through my joking manner or the fact that I asked him to sign 6 cards. I did give him a hard time about the Titans new uniforms. They look exactly like the CFL Toronto Argonauts. I took to calling them the Tennessee Argonauts. The pen also was giving up or he was signing lighter with each card. By the time he got to the Topps at the end, it was barely taking. He also was signing and just sort of tossing the cards at me. I felt pretty badly. Oh well… A few friends of mine asked for future considerations to get Orakpo.  Essentially what it means is that I’ll get the autograph free of charge, and they will look out for anybody me. I’m not picky as long as it is not in my collection already. (Lance and I have done these exchanges with regularity.) I went ahead and gave up the Score 2015- which I think looks terrible, and the Upper Deck 2009 Draft Edition, which I sorta wanted to keep- but this is how it goes. I hope these cards new homes appreciate them as much as I do.

Later I went to the Back to Camp event that Brian was holding at GiGi’s before he headed off to Tennessee for the year. Many Longhorns were invited, but since I got there early, and had little time I only managed to get Brian and Michael Huff. I felt badly about how I had treated Brian at the T-Mobile event. He either took it in good stride or had already forgotten about me ribbing him about the Texans. He signed 3 cards for me. Well really 2. He re-inked the Topps 2014 that came out really badly, looked over the Panini Triple Threads card, and then tossed in his Donruss 2015 Sample card. He was really informative about the process of the league. New coaches get a little bit more time and Coach Vrabel wanted them in Tennessee to get ready for the season as soon as possible. Brian and I also talked about the sample card. Apparently many companies offer the cards to the players when they come out. The Donruss card in particular was stamped/ imprinted on the back with the word ‘sample’ on it. Brian said that when he found out he had his first card, he was super excited because it was like a coming of age.

Brian signed with the Titans in 2015. By October of that season, he was already established as a team captain. He finished his first campaign in Nashville with 7 sacks, 38 tackles (13 ast), 5 passes defended, and a forced fumble.  2016, saw Rak establish near career highs with 10.5 sacks, 38 tackles (8 ast), 4 passes defended, and a forced fumble. While his numbers were slightly down in 2017, Brian finished with 30 tackles (10 ast), 7 sacks, 2 passes defended, and 3 forced fumbles. With new coach and former LB Mike Vrabel in town, it should be interesting to see how Brian’s numbers stack up in 2018.

NFL

Marshall, Keith

Card: Sage 2016
Acquired:  2016, Gunderson Trade

Keith Marshall played for the Georgia Bulldogs, where he and his buddy Todd Gurley formed a one-two punch at runningback. An impressive track man with the speed to boot, Keith ran a 4.31 40 at the combine, leading all prospects.  He’d finish his 4 year stint at Georgia with 1379 yards on 253 carries and 12 TDs. His numbers would certainly have looked better if not for an ACL tear he suffered in 2013.

The Redskins selected Keith in the 7th round of the draft, intrigued by his boom/ bust potential.  A nagging elbow injury ended his 2016, and then in 2017 Keith tore his patellar tendon, bringing his season to a close before it had even begun. Still recovering from the injury the Redskins waived him with an injury settlement during the Summer of 2018.

NFL

Rosenfels, Sage

Card: Upper Deck SPx 2001  (129/500)
Acquired: 2017, EBay

Sage Rosenfels was a quarterback for Iowa State from 1997-2000.  Although only a two year starter, he put up 306 completions (52.1%) for 4,164 yards and 18 TDs. Sage always seemed to have big numbers when the lights were the brightest, such as in the Insight.com Bowl, where he guided the Cyclones to a victory over Pittsburgh.  After a pretty solid combine, Rosenfels’ name began to climb in the view of many scouts. Still Rosenfels was considered a prospect without the big name glitter.

He’d be the 9th quarterback selected off the board- taken by the Washington Redskins with the 109th pick (4th round) of the 2001 draft. In 2002, the Redskins felt that they had their quarterback situation well in hand under Danny Wuerffel, Shane Matthews, and Patrick Ramsey, so Steve Spurrier traded Rosenfels to the Miami Dolphins for an undisclosed 2003 selection. Sage started only 2 games over the next 4 years, and was primarily only seen in mopup duty.

In 2006, the Houston Texans were in full rebuild mode under new head coach Gary Kubiak, but they wanted to give incumbent starter David Carr another year to develop at quarterback before they pulled the trigger. The team signed Rosenfels via free agency to back up Carr. Sage came in again during mop up duty and had a pretty decent effort throwing for 265 yards and 3 TDs in 4 games of relief of Carr.

During the off-season of 2007 the franchise traded for Falcons’ backup quarterback Matt Schaub. Unwilling to backup Schaub or take a paycut, Carr was cut.  With Schaub off-injured over the next two seasons, Sage got some starting time in playing 10 games and posting a 6-4 record. Sage had his best season in 2007- a year in which both Schaub and Andre Johnson were hard hit by the injury bug. It was a fun season- watching the team come together under Sage from a bunch of scrappy role players to a really dangerous offensive unit. Rosenfels was 154/240 for 1684 yards with 15 TDs to 12 interceptions.  Teams quickly became interested and envious of the Texans sudden rags to riches situation at quarterback.

Sage returned in 2008 but didn’t have as much luck posting 6 TDs to 10 interceptions on 174 attempts. While his yardage per game increased as he was relied on to carry the team a bit more over a 5 game period (1431 yards), Sage is instead known as the butt of a joke to many outsiders for an incident known as the ‘Rosencopter’.  With the game on the line against the Colts, he decided to scramble for the first down. Facing down three defenders, Sage heroically decided to go airborne, but got spun in the air like a helicopter….  and fumbled the ball… and the game away. (Despite this Sage has been relatively easy going about the incident, even going so far as to poke fun at himself on Twitter.) As a Texans fan however, I was more forgiving as you could tell that Sage just wanted to win.

In 2009 the Vikings finally consummated the trade for Rosenfels they wanted to do in 2008 for a 4th round pick. (Initially I was very worried about the deal because Matt Schaub had done nothing to prove that he could remain injury free- but my fears would be allayed.)  Sage never found the starting quarterback job long term- as fate intervened again with the Vikings soon thereafter signing Brett Favre.

Sage was traded again in 2010- this time to the New York Giants, where he’d backup Eli Manning. He’d be on the roster of the Giants through 2011. When starter Chad Henne was injured, Rosenfels rejoined the Dolphins for some mercenary action. Later in the year Sage made his final stop again with the Vikings, but was among the franchise’s final cuts in 2012.

He currently lives in Iowa, and is an active Twitter presence. When I posted this card to his profile with a ‘Blue Steel’ reference to Zoolander, he and a few other media personalities got a good laugh out of it. In 2017 he also attended Andre Johnson’s induction into the Houston Texans’ Ring of Honor.

G/GS 43/12     Att 562      Cpd  351        Yds  4156
TD  30            Int 29        Rat  81.2

Rush 38     Yds   95        Avg 2.0            TD 1