Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

NFL

Gaffney, Jabar

Card: SPX 2002 Rated Rookies (229/650)
Acquired: 2017, EBay
Failure: 2011, C/o The Washington Redskins

Jabar Gaffney was a talent who left it all on the field for the Florida Gators back in 2000 and 2001. In both years he had almost 1200 yards and over 10 TDs receiving.  He declared for the 2002 NFL draft and was selected at the top of round 2 by the Houston Texans expansion squad. It was expected that Gaffney would become young quarterback David Carr‘s preferred target as they’d grow together as an up and coming talent. Among receivers looking back, his selection was a fair one. He’d finish 2nd in total WR yardage in an otherwise lackluster class.

Jabar caught only 1 TD  his rookie season, in a week 6 snoozer against the Buffalo Bills. The following week he’d record his first and only professional TD throw against the Cleveland Browns. In total that rookie year, Jabar had 483 yards on 41 catches.  Later in 2004 Gaffney had his best season as a Texan with 632 yards on 41 receptions.  In 2005, the Texans experimented with utilizing Gaffney as more of an inline receiver. He’d make 55 receptions, but as David Carr regressed, so did the Texans record.  The entire team from the front office down was fired and a new regime was brought in.  Jabar was a free agent.

Gaffney found a home with the Philadelphia Eagles, but was a surprise cut before the beginning of the season.
He’d then sign with New England where he’d play for the Patriots over the next 3 seasons. In 2007 he’d have a career high 5 TD receptions.  Jabar then signed with the Denver Broncos in 2009. In two seasons with the franchise he’d post near career highs in receptions (54, 65) and yards (732, 875). He’d be headhunted by the Redskins for 2011, again posting career highs in receptions (68) and yards (947) and tied his career high with 5 TDs.  Jabar returned to the Patriots, but was cut shortly there after.  He later signed with the Dolphins, but ran into legal trouble.  Miami cut him and Gaffney was unable to resuscitate his career.

In 2016 he was arrested in Jacksonville for marijuana. Gaffney has attempted to remain low key otherwise, despite some run ins with the law.

G/Gs 158/103     Rec 447    Yds 5690    Avg 12.7    Td 24   Lg 69

NFL

Allen, Terry

Cards: ProSet 1991 Update, ProSet 1992, Action Packed 1992
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Clemson
Sent: 12/31/15    Received: 4/20/17  (477 days)

Well it sure did take a while for this one to get back around so I was quite surprised to see this one show up in my mailbox at a bit under 500 days. I had sent out for Terry back in 2015, but it was the end of the year, right before Clemson lost the National Championship game. Allen and the rest of the coaches probably had a lot to do, and after winning the National Championship game in 2016, this gem showed up in the mail a few months later.

Terry Allen played his rookie season in 1991 for the Minnesota Vikings at fullback, blocking for Herschel Walker. He had a pretty solid year rushing for 563 yards on 120 carries. Allen took over fulltime runningback duties the following year in 1992 setting the Vikings’ single-season rushing record with 1201 yards. After losing his entire 1993 season to injury, Terry returned to form in 1994 rushing for 1031 yards.

Terry joined the Redskins in 1995, and in 1996 rushed for a career high 347 carries for 1353 yards (Redskins single season record) and a league leading 21 TDs. During that stretch from 1992 to 1996, Terry rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and 52 TDs. (He was also a very sneaky fantasy football pick in the early days of the sport.) Although he’d not see the same success over the remainder of his career, Allen remained a solid and dependable runningback, playing for New England (1999), New Orleans (2000) and Baltimore (2001).

Originally a 9th round pick of the Vikings in 1990, Terry sat out all of the season rehabbing an injured knee.  He finished second at Clemson with 2,778 career rushing yards- including  1,139 yards as a Junior in ’88 earning All-Atlantic Coast Conference Honors.

Terry has some really nice entries here. His rookie card was from the ProSet 1991 Update. It’s a pretty nice shot, but had a heavy amount of artifact in the photo so it wasn’t completely clear. On the other ProSet card, they made an ugly switch midway through the 1992 set, but the ugly design really lent itself to this dynamic photo of Allen’s running style. The vertical gray gradient is not necessary and the stair step action for the Vikings logo makes absolutely no sense. We don’t really need to talk about the ProSet logo.  Action Packed went more for this as well with the vertical gold stripe. It makes sense because of the embossed canvas that the attempt was to make players look as though they were leaping from the card but among Action Packed from when I was collecting the set, it was my least favorite.

G/GS 130/114     RUSH 2152    YDS 8614     AVG 4.0      TD 73     LG 55
REC 204      YDS 1601     AVG 7.8    TD 6      LG 38

NFL

Robinson, Keenan (2)

sage12 krobinsonCards:  Sage 2012, Upper Deck 2012
Acquired: IP, Aaron Williams Lone Star Showcase 2015
See Also: Keenan Robinson

The Redskins took the training wheels off Keenan Robinson in 2014 when he replaced longtime starting linebacker London Fletcher. Keenan had 71 tackles (33 assists), 1.5 sacks, 6 TFL, 3 passes defensed, and a fumble recovery in 13 games this last season.  In back to back seasons, Robinson had season ending injuries before the season began, but he took the best from it and decided to play relentlessly- because any day it could all be over. With an increased fire for the game, Robinson had assumed duties as the defensive play caller in the huddle in 2015.

ud12st krobinsonIn 2016 Keenan was surprisingly allowed to sign with the division rival New York Giants. He dressed for all 16 games and started 6 at middle linebacker putting up 79 total tackles and 7 pass deflections. An athletic and speedy defender, Keenan has the speed to keep up with runningbacks and tight ends in pass coverage. He also has the odd honor of picking off Tom Brady twice in his short career.

Robinson was being interviewed off to the side at the Lone Star Showcase. He was very happy to sign anything that anybody had at the event and patiently talked to every fan if they had something to say. The Showcase was fun, but listening to kids participating in the Showcase chide and heckle fans and adults who wanted autographs was a disappointing sight. It’s easy to bite the hand that feeds you if you do not understand that: Simply put, fans dollars are what keep the sport going and fan patronage is what pays for camps for kids.