Footballers, American

A package of bird team cards from @forgotaboutblay where most of the guys are wearing helmets. 

 

I don't set many goals when the calendar flips to January once again, but I am hoping to get through all of the cards that were sent to me from blog-reading pals in 2022 by... oh, let's say the end of the month. It would be nice to get through it all before the first 2023 set drops, but I have no idea when that is. This latest group of cards features mostly football players from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders. As usual, he sent me so many really nice Ducks cards that I'm holding a couple more back for a reveal during next football season.

Jevon Holland has put together a nice first couple of seasons in the league. While there are many Ducks on NFL rosters at any given point in time, not all of them get regular playing time like Holland.

The other green team, the pro one, is represented well here. This card is very cool to look at in person, as the "1309" is actually punched out of the card. (I'm not sure how well I'm describing this, but it basically means that you can see right through the card!)

I was having a discussion with a friend recently about all of the over-hyped quarterbacks that came out of USC from the Pete Carroll days. Matt Barkley's name didn't come up, but he was a Carroll recruit and played his first season with the now-Seahawks coach.

That's not to belittle Barkley or these sharp looking cards that Dennis sent. He's been a serviceable backup in the NFL for a decade, including two seasons in Philadelphia. How many of us can say that?

Donovan McNabb was certainly better than a backup throughout his career (well, maybe not at the end with that other team.) This card is certainly weird, though. It looks a bit unfinished. I'm guessing the "Gamers" insert also has a version where there is game-used stuff on the left side of the card, but whenever these sets (usually DLP brands in the '00s) would essentially copy-paste the same design to a basic insert card, it always looked weird.

Na Brown! There's a name from the past. I was playing a lot of NFL 2K back in those days, so I was more familiar with the Eagles receiving depth chart than anyone should have been at the time.

Hey, this guy isn't wearing a helmet! I can't bring myself to peel the coating off of these Finest cards, even if they are refractors and would look so much better without it. I also won't refuse peeled cards in trades or purchases, so what do I know?