The Franchise 9: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

My last Franchise 9 post featured the defending Super Bowl and current AFC Champs, the Kansas City Chiefs. Now we are just a couple of days before the 55th Super Bowl, let's take a look at the best players the Chiefs' opponents can provide. Here are the nine best players in the history of reigning NFC Champion, Tampa Bay.

1. James Wilder, RB (1988 Topps)

Not too many teams have no quarterback on their Franchise 9. The Bucs are one. Maybe if Tom Brady plays until he's 50, Tampa Bay will have a QB. The team has just never had a franchise-altering passer. But running backs...well, I guess they still haven't had too many superstars there, either. James Wilder is the team's all-time leading rusher with 5,957 yards and 37 touchdowns. He made one Pro Bowl appearance. He ranks 11th on the team's all-time Approximate Value list. Though stars like Mike Evans or Chris Godwin may soon surpass Wilder in career achievement, right now he stands as the best offensive player the Buccaneers have fielded.

 

2. Lee Roy Selmon, DE (1984 Topps)

Lee Roy Selmon was the first pick ever made by the expansion Buccaneers. He made them look good. After just their fourth season in the league, the Baby Bucs made it to the NFC Championship game in 1979 before losing to the Rams. Selmon was a big part of that, starring as the only All-Pro (or even Pro Bowler) on that squad. He made five other Pro Bowls and was named to the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1980s before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995. He was the first Buccaneer in Canton.

 

3. Gerald McCoy, DT (2016 Panini Shining Armor)

Gerald McCoy spent nine seasons in Tampa Bay. He made the Pro Bowl in six of those seasons, establishing himself as one of the game's top defensive linemen of the past decade. He is currently third on the franchise's all-time sack list with 54.5. He ranks #9 in team history in AV.

 

 

4. Simeon Rice, DE (2006 Upper Deck 10-Sack Club)

Simeon Rice is second for the club with 69.5 sacks. While playing for the Buccaneers, he made two Pro Bowls and one 1st-Team All-Pro. He's probably the best edge rusher the team has ever had.

 

5. Warren Sapp, DT (1997 Collector's Choice Turf Champions)

Warren Sapp was a gift for the Buccaneers back in the 1995 NFL Draft. Though he was considered by many to be the most talented player in the draft, character concerns caused a few teams to shy away from drafting him. After he slid to the 12th pick in the first round, Tampa Bay decided he was worth the risk and selected him. Boy, were they right! Sapp rewarded them with seven Pro Bowls and four 1st-Team All-Pro nominations. He recorded more sacks for the team than anyone else in history and earned his way onto two All-Decade teams, despite his career span giving him only five years in each of those two decades. He became the second Buccaneer in the Hall of Fame.

 

6. Derrick Brooks, LB (2000 Topps)

I'm not sure there has ever been as successful a draft as the Bucs had in 1995. After stealing Sapp with the 12th overall pick, they traded back into the first round and chose Derrick Brooks with the 28th pick. All the two of them did was become the two best players in franchise history. Brooks played his entire career with the Buccaneers. He was a 1st-Team All-Pro five times and Pro Bowler 11 times in 14 seasons. He is the Bucs all-time leader in tackles and forced fumbles and is fourth in interceptions with 25 from his linebacker position. He received a bust in Canton in 2014, his first year of eligibility.

 

 

7. Hardy Nickerson, LB (1995 Flair)

While Brooks and Sapp were the studs on the Buccaneers' defense from the mid-90s on, Hardy Nickerson already had the defense going in the right direction when those two arrived. Nickerson was just hitting his prime when he left Pittsburgh for sunny Tampa Bay, and he made an immediate impact. In 1993, his first season with the Bucs, Nickerson recorded an eye-popping 214 tackles. He was a tackling machine, becoming the then-team leader (still fourth in history) despite playing only seven seasons with the team. He received a pair of All-Pro nods en route to his spot on the 1990s All-Decade Team.

8. Ronde Barber, CB (2003 Flair)

Ronde Barber is the team's all-time leader in interceptions (47), is third in tackles (1044), and second in fumble recoveries (12). He also had a nose for the end zone, scoring 12 defensive touchdowns in his career. Wherever the ball was, Barber was, and he had a knack for making the big play. He earned a spot on the All-Decade Team for the 2000s and has been a HOF finalist for the past couple of years. I can't help but think his time is coming soon.

9. John Lynch, S (1997 Pacific Invincible Smash-Mouth)

John Lynch was a feared hard-hitter in his playing days. During his stint in Tampa Bay, Lynch played 11 years, making five Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams. Like his former secondary mate, Ronde Barber, Lynch has also been a HOF finalist in recent years. His playing career may have fallen just a little bit short of that accolade, but combined with his success as GM for the 49ers, he may have enough to put him in Canton one day.

It's easy to see which side of the ball the Buccaneers have ridden to success. Eight of the nine players listed here are defenders. Moreover, for a stint from 1997-1999, five of these defenders (Sapp, Brooks, Nickerson, Barber, and Lynch) played together. In short, Tampa Bay had five of the best nine players in team history not only on the roster at once, but on the field at the same time, in one unit. It's not hard to see how the team was able to win a Super Bowl in the early 2000s with nary a memorable offensive player on the team. Now that the team is back in the Super Bowl, but it's the offensive firepower that is the heart of the team. I can already tell you changes that will happen to this list in the next year, barring any unforeseen calamities: Mike Evans and Lavonte David will join, most likely bumping off James Wilder and Gerald McCoy/Simeon Rice. David nearly made the cut already, and one more year should make him too much to ignore anymore. Right now, he and his teammates have bigger concerns. Like trying to take down the Chiefs on Sunday and bring home his first ring.


Some notes on this series:

1. This includes Super Bowl Era players only.
2. The "nine" in Franchise 9 is to fill a page in a binder. There is no intent to fill a roster or even a starting lineup.
3. A player can represent multiple teams.
4. I tried to find a balance between steady producers with longevity and explosive players with shorter careers. Time with the team does count for something, as does impact with the team.
5. For a link to Franchise 9 lists that I have already posted, click here.
6. This is all subjective, so I'd love to hear whom you would choose!

Trading Packs for Cards

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I found cards in the store for the first time in forever. I took advantage and picked up a blaster of 2020 Contenders football that I already shared my spoils. I also picked up two packs of Topps Holiday. I have to admit, I didn't have too much interest in the annual holiday edition this year, but it's always fun to rip open some packs. The result is that almost everything I pulled ended up as trade bait on my TCDB list.

Each pack had ten cards, but only nine could be scanned at once. When I scanned them, I tried to choose the cards I thought bloggers would be most interested in seeing. Sorry, Marlins. From this pack, only Hosmer fits in my collection. The rest became trade bait. And extra points to Hosmer for having Wrigley ivy in the background, too.

Once again, only one of these cards goes in my collection. As I flipped through the cards in this pack, I came across a Carlos Correa that was backwards. I knew that meant something, and I was happy because I collect Correa. So I turned the card over, wondering if there was an auto or, more likely, an SP. I examined the front, searching for a candy cane or Christmas socks or something. I couldn't figure it out, so I just thought maybe the card was turned around. Then I realized I could check the code, so I went back to the back and found the card was, indeed, a variation. I still couldn't find it. So I looked online. Before I reveal the holiday-themed variation, take a closer look and see if you can find it.

 

Do you see the SP-ness of this card?

 

There's snow on the ground! I mean, I can see the snow, but it just doesn't look that out-of-place to me. It didn't even register in my mind. Maybe all of you saw it right away. Oh well, I won't complain too much because the one SP I pulled fills a collection need.

These cards weren't on my tradelist on TCDB for 2 hours before I received a transaction proposal. Somebody must be building this set because every 2020 Topps Holiday card I had for trade was claimed in one trade.

I quickly flipped these cards for a few cards that I wanted much more.

A green bordered parallel from Topps Gallery of ASG MVP Juan Marichal. This one is numbered to 250.

Two players representing my Alma Mater, Southern Utah University. SUU players on cards are a rarity, so I'm happy to pick up these two from 2016. Miles Killebrew is still with the Lions, who drafted him, but Ammon Olsen never played in the NFL.

And two cards from my other college fandom, the BYU Cougars. Jeremy Guthrie is an on-card auto here.

At the end of the day, I'm perfectly happy taking my 2 packs of Topps Holiday and turning them into these five cards. These certainly mean much more to me. I have to say, though--this was the first time I've ever traded all the contents of a pack rip at one time. It certainly made pulling the cards for the trade easier because they hadn't even been put away yet. But that is one reason I buy packs--so I can have something to trade for cards that I might want. This worked out perfectly.

2020 Trade Map and 2021's First Trade

 

 

I kept track of all my trades again this year, both with fellow bloggers and through TCDB. Here is a snapshot of where my cards were coming and going. I wonder how accurate this would be to use as an indication of which communities have more card collectors. There is definitely more of a cluster in the East with an empty Midwest and a scattering of traders in the West. Three new states were added this year that weren't on my map for 2019: North Dakota, Indiana, and my home state of Utah. Massachusetts and New Hampshire dropped off the map after I had completed trades with those two states in 2019, but not in 2020. Overall, I can see at a glance that I did less trading in 2020 than in 2019, but I could have told you that before I saw the map. There was just too much going on last year.

I've already completed three trades in 2021, all small PWE trades on TCDB. Here is the result of my first two trades of 2021.

The honor of being my first trading partner of the year goes to TCDB member hittinaway. He sent me a nice 1980 McCovey for my ASG MVP collection and a Legendary Cuts Luis Aparicio for my ROY collection, along with set help for my Xponential 2 set.

He also sent me some Cubbies, including my first Tony Campana, who was only with the Cubs for a short time right before I started back into collecting.

This Bronson Kaufusi was a bonus he threw in. I thought I had it, but it turns out it didn't. I had two autographs of the card without the base.

My second completed trade of 2021 was a small four-card swap with 49ants. The first card here is former BYU pitcher Ryan Jensen, serial-numbered to 131. 

I don't know how much trading will happen this year. I feel like my trade boxes are dwindling a little and I can't find/afford new cards to break to replenish them. I don't know how many trade matches I'll be able to generate, but I'm always open to trading. If you don't see a pin on your city, let's fix that in 2021!

The Franchise 9: Kansas City Chiefs

Way back when I started this blog (five years ago today, by my reckoning, actually), I had an idea for a series about the building of a football Frankenset. I called it the Franchise 9. Here we are, 1826 days later and I still haven't finished the series. I'd better get on that. Plus, we are now down to one more game before this NFL season is in the books and I haven't had a single Franchise 9 post. So today, let's take a look at the page for the team that will be defending its championship in two weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs.

 

1. Len Dawson, QB (2011 Topps Super Bowl Legends)

Before there was Patrick Mahomes, Len Dawson was quarterbacking the Chiefs to a championship. To this day, Dawson leads all Chiefs in career passing yards, TDs, 1st-Team All-Pro nods, and Pro Bowls. Add to that a Super Bowl MVP, and he rightly deserves to be on this list. Patrick Mahomes may very well pass him, and do it very soon, but Dawson is tops in Kansas City annals.

 

2. Tony Gonzalez, TE (2006 Topps Chrome)

Before there was Travis Kelce, there was Tony Gonzalez. Interesting fact: the Chiefs are the only franchise for whom both top pass catchers (in terms of yards and receptions) in team history are tight ends. Kelce may very well pass Gonzalez, but Gonzalez was just as dominant during his time. For seven straight years, he was named to either the 1st or 2nd All-Pros teams. That's a run that will make it difficult for anybody to stake a claim for the greatest tight end of all time.

 

3. Will Shields, G (1993 Classic)

Gonzalez was an All-Pro for seven consecutive years. During the same span, Will Shields accomplished the same feat for five straight years. In all, Shields made six All-Pro teams and 12 Pro Bowls, all as a Kansas City Chief. He ranks second in team history in Pro-Football Reference's Approximate Value metric. He's also a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

 

4. Bobby Bell, DE (1988 Swell Football Greats)

For six straight years, Bobby Bell was a first-team All-Pro. Are starting to notice a pattern here? Though on the opposite side of the ball from Gonzalez and Shields, Bell continues the streak of long All-Pro streaks for this team. Bell was part of the Chiefs' "Redwood Forest" defense. Traditional stats are hard for a defender of that era to come by, but Bell's career AV ranks fourth on the Chiefs.

 

5. Buck Buchanan, DT (1973 Topps)

Bell's teammate on defense, Buck Buchanan, had a streak of six consecutive All-Pro years. He was also an eight-time Pro Bowler and is enshrined in Canton.

 

6. Willie Lanier, LB (1972 Topps)

He didn't have the same streak as we've seen others have here, but Willie Lanier was an All-Pro in five of six seasons between 1968-1973. With another Hall of Famer in the front seven, the Chiefs defense of the late Sixties through the mid-Seventies was hard to run on. Beginning in the first year of the Super Bowl Era through Bell's, Buchanan's, and Lanier's tenure together, the Chiefs finished in the top five of run defenses five of eight years; the other three years finishing nine, eleven, and eleven.

 

 

7. Derrick Thomas, LB (1994 Score)

Derrick Thomas is the Chiefs' all-time leading sack master. With 126.5 sacks in 11 years, who knows how many more he could have piled up if his life hadn't been tragically cut short in a car accident? He still owns the single-game record for sacks, taking the Seahawks Dave Krieg down seven times in memory of his father on Veteran's Day. Though injuries hampered Thomas later in his career, he was still effective. In 1997, he was limited to 12 games and still managed 9.5 sacks. He earned a spot in the Hall of Fame.

8. Jim Tyrer, T (1972 Topps) 

It looks like I may have mistakenly put Tyrer out of order on this page. No matter; I'll change it in my binder, but I'm not going to re-scan it. Jim Tyrer may not be a household name, but know this: he is the Kansas City Chiefs all-time AV leader. According to Pro Football Reference, no player was more valuable to this franchise over the course of his career than Tyrer.  Part of that may be due to his longevity; he spent 13 years with the franchise, starting way back when they began as the Dallas Texans. But when you consider Tyrer himself made nine consecutive All-Pro teams, you know he was just the best at his position during his playing career.

9. Johnny Robinson, S (1990 Pro Set Super Bowl)

One more member of the Redwood Forest defense here, and another All-Pro streaker. Johnny Robinson was a first-team All-Pro six years in a row. His 57 interceptions are second in team history and his AV is fifth. With a track record like that, the only question I have about Robinson is why it took until 2019 for him to get a call to the Hall.

The Chiefs are one of those teams who have had so much success that it was hard to leave some players off the list. Hall of Famer Emmitt Thomas, All-Decade performers like Neil Smith and Deron Cherry, and great playmakers like Otis Taylor, Priest Holmes, and Jamaal Charles just didn't have a spot for them. And I've already mentioned Mahomes and Kelce, who will most certainly bump somebody off of this Franchise 9 if their careers continue on their current trajectories. This has been one of the most successful franchises in the league. We'll have to see if they add a third Super Bowl title next month.


Some notes on this series:

1. This includes Super Bowl Era players only.
2. The "nine" in Franchise 9 is to fill a page in a binder. There is no intent to fill a roster or even a starting lineup.
3. A player can represent multiple teams.
4. I tried to find a balance between steady producers with longevity and explosive players with shorter careers. Time with the team does count for something, as does impact with the team.
5. For a link to Franchise 9 lists that I have already posted, click here.
6. This is all subjective, so I'd love to hear whom you would choose!

Cards In the Wild!

The last time I posted about football was back in October, to do a State of the Set post for my 1997 UD Legends build. Before that, it was right at the beginning of the football season to show off my fantasy football roster. Do you want to know how the season turned out? Well, in the first round of the playoffs I scored 151 points. The closest person to me scored 125 and my opponent was 54 points off of my score. That may sound pretty good--but only until you realize that the 54 points was in the other direction. Yes, I scored the second-most points in the league and still lost by more than 50 in the first round of the playoffs. That left me battling for 3rd place. In that final round, I scored even better: 161 points. That was second-most in the league again. Once again, it was my opponent who scored the most, with 163 points. I had Josh Allen as my QB on Monday Night. He threw a TD to pull me within 2 points with 13 minutes to go in the game. And that was the last time he saw the field. The Bills pulled him at that point, leaving me just shy of 3rd place. The guy who scored 205 on me in the first round? Well, he played for the championship, scored 98 points in that game, and won. So despite my scoring the most points combined in the playoffs, I lost both of my matchups and ended up in 4th place. It was like that in our league this year. Our top two total point scorers for the season, cumulatively, both missed the playoffs as they always seemed to run into their opponents' best weeks.

 

And now the Super Bowl is nigh, and I haven't even posted any new football cards. The reason for that is simple: I haven't seen any 2020 football cards on the shelf. At all. None. Nada. Until now. On Monday night, I made a run to Walmart for a few items and saw cards for sale. There was only one product, but I made sure I picked up a blaster.

The box promised one auto or relic, which came out in the first pack. Let's just say I'm happy with the pull and show these packs in reverse order of opening them to save the hit for last.

Pack 5

 

2020 Contenders was the product. This was my first time buying contenders for a few years. Because of the limited size of the base set, each pack is pretty much star-studded. Watt and Lamar are keepers from this pack. I pulled one insert per pack. This one was a JK Dobbins Rookie of the Year candidate.

Pack 4

 

 

My first Packer from a 2020 product is a guy who had a monster season and led my fantasy team, Davante Adams. That's a keeper, along with my first Buccaneer Brady, which was my insert for the pack.

 

Pack 3

 

Another Packer, likely 3-time MVP, Aaron Rodgers. I keep thinking that it would have been cooler to have pulled Rodgers in the MVP Contenders set (instead of Brady) because it will probably have come in an MVP season for him, and Brady in the Winning Ticket set because, well, Brady just wins. Except I hope not this Sunday. Rodgers and Mayfield are the two keepers in this pack.

 

Pack 2

 

Too many Vikings in this box. Dalvin Cook came in the first pack I showed, and now there's Adam Thielen and the insert of Justin Jefferson and Jeff Gladney. I may decide to keep the Kelce, but all the rest are up for trade, I think.

 

Pack 1

 

Here was the first pack. Frankly, after this pack, I was happy with whatever else came from the box. The Rodgers was a nice finishing touch, but how about starting the blaster off with a hot pack of top rookie Justin Herbert? I'm keeping both the relic Rookie of the Year Contenders insert. Herbert was impressive this season and I'm glad to see so much of him in my first 2020 football card purchase.

 

I noted the cards I plan to add to my collection; all the others are available for trade. Let me know if there is something that catches your eye and you would like to trade for.

Still the #1

I know we're halfway through January, but I'm still working on my yearly updates for 2020. Today we'll see the new additions to my Brad Sorensen collection. Last year when I did this update, I had a completed rainbow to show off. I don't have anything of the sort this time around, but even though new Sorensen cards are getting harder for me to pick up, I'm still not relinquishing my grip on the Sorensen collector title.

Now this represents only those collections that are on TCDB. But I think it's fair to say that not many other people out there are interested in matching me.

As always most of my Sorensen acquistions came from COMC this year.

These nine came from COMC. One downside to collecting an obsure player who only had cards in his rookie season is that today's rookie market is all about the auto. I have every base card of Sorensen, but there are still almost 200 cards that I still don't have. Most of those are autos. I already own over 40 Sorensen autographs. How many do I need? But that's what is out there if I want to pick up all of his cards.

The only other Sorensen I picked up that was not from COMC came from a Sportlots box order. I'm telling you, he's hard to find. I've never once traded for a Sorensen card because no one seems to have him. 

So if you have any Brad Sorensen cards lying around, send 'em my way. I may still be the #1 collector, but my collection is only 30% done and my wells are running dry.

Chris the "Supplies"er

Last month, Chris "The Pedestrian Collector" ran a PWE Swap Meet to bolster his football card collection. This seemed like a great opportunity to me because I always have too many extra football cards and not enough people who would want them. Selfishly, I unloaded a 400-count box filled mostly with my set-build dupes on him. I didn't expect him to match it in return. I was also unaware that he was having a giveaway for those who participated in his swap meet. Honestly, I was just trying to clear out some space.

And then I won his giveaway. Well, I can say goodbye to any space I cleared out. I sent out a 400-count box. This is the box I ended up getting back.

Inside, it was full of other boxes!

What you're seeing there is a package of top loaders, a 400-count box stuffed with baseball and football cards (that I haven't fully gone through yet), and another, larger cardboard box

marked "card supplies" on the label. It was filled with, well, card supplies. Completely filled.

In the "card supplies" box, Chris included a large box of top loaders, a package of pages, and lots and lots of penny sleeves! This is huge for me because every card I own, whether PC or trader, is either sleeved or bindered. I just bought 100 pages last month, so I'm good there, but there is no such thing as too many pages. Penny sleeves, on the other hand, were starting to worry me. I bought 10,000 sleeves from BCW a few years back and I'm down to my last few packages. Well, I was down to a few last packages. Chris filled a 400-count card box to the brim, plus another smaller box with penny sleeves. I don't even know how many sleeves fit in that box, but I know it has to be a lot. This was a welcome and timely care package of supplies.

Nestled in some of the boxes were some other goodies. I'm not sure where the stickers on the bottom right came from, but I can at least date them to the late 2000s because of the team logos. The Cal Ripken picture you see is a little pamphlet from True Value, and the Wrigley Field postcard is really cool to me.

Chris also included this 5x7 Conlon Collection photo of Home Run Baker.

I mentioned that one of the boxes was full of cards, too. While I haven't seen all of them, I have glanced through them quickly.

The first thing I noticed was that it was as if Chris had been reading some lists that I have been working on that I haven't even published. All of the players you see above are former All-Stars. Most of them are guys I didn't have a card of already. Last month, I decided to begin a new project (because I don't have enough of them): I'm building a Frankenset comprised only of players who made a Major League All-Star team, along with at least one card of every All-Star. I'll have more on that later, but when I popped open the box and started through the cards, out of the first five cards, it seemed that three or four of them were vintage All-Stars that I would have needed to track down.

Besides an entry to his giveaway, Chris also provided a swap as part of his PWE Swap Meet. Before I found out I had won anything, I received a PWE from him in return for the cards I had sent. All three of these cards were needed for my Cubs and ASG MVP collections. I love the Blue Walmart border on a Cubbies card.

These cards, from one Packers fan to another, were part of the PWE swap. I needed all of them. I'm not sure which Favre I like more: the one from his first season as a starter, the silly one with the camera, or the one from Diamond Kings, which I have always liked. And bonus points for getting me a Jordy Nelson base card that I didn't already have.

Thank you, Chris, for your generous offering. Like everything else, card supplies are harder to find right now and I am a penny sleeve fiend. I don't know how many people out there would have gotten as excited as I did to open up a box and find nothing but hundreds of penny sleeves in it.

I'd also like to take a moment to mention another giveaway. Collector's Crack is holding his annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web. Click the link to predict the Super Bowl outcome and enter for some great prizes. We may have a new year upon us, but the generosity among card bloggers is still going strong.