The first Packers quad I picked up from this set included Brett Favre, Antonio Freeman, Ahman Green, and David Martin. That's like 2.5 Green Bay legends.
This one includes two tight ends, a fullback, and a lesser WR. So of course it's rarer to find and cost more. Trading cards are weird sometimes! It's got some great patches and brings me one card closer to the end of the set though, so let's check it out.
Robert Ferguson had an eight year career, with the first six years coming in Green Bay and the final two in Minnesota. He was always sort of a supporting cast guy, but in 2003 he had a career best 38 receptions for 520 yards and 4 touchdowns. So I remember him well as a young guy with a lot of potential in Madden 04. He was also the first receiver to catch a pass for positive yardage from Aaron Rodgers, so that's pretty cool!
Tyrone Davis also had an eight year career with six years in Green Bay. He began his career with the Jets though as a 4th round pick. I tried to see how he got to Green Bay, and it was in a trade, but just for "Past considerations" according to Pro Football Reference. I know considerations happen all the time in trades, but it makes you wonder what actually changed hands. $20? A bag of peanuts? So mysterious!
Davis broke Herman Moore's college TD record at Virginia, but had a career stat line of 73 receptions for 795 yards and 13 touchdowns in the pros. He also actually ended his career in 2002, so he's one of the weird guys in this 2004 set who is included because they had some of his jersey even though he wasn't actually an active NFL player.
Bubba Sparxxx...oops I mean Bubba Franks was also a tight end who played for the Packers and Jets. Unlike Davis, he had eight years in Green Bay and then one final year in New York. Franks was drafted in the first round in 2000 and pretty quickly made a name for himself with three Pro Bowl nods from 2001-2003. Some of those stat lines look kind of weak for a Pro Bowl TE when you think of guys like Travis Kelce or Rob Gronkowski, but those were different times and Franks was a pretty big red zone threat for the Packers back in that day. I remember him being a matchup nightmare in Madden 04 as well, but I hated putting him on my team as I liked to roster lower tier random TEs like Jermaine Wiggins or David Martin instead.
Last but not least, we have Mr. Reliable - William Henderson. Franks' nine seasons was the career high on this list, but Henderson bests that with a wild 12 seasons, which is pretty darn good for a FB. He actually finished his career at 5th place in career games played for the Packers, which puts him in some pretty elite company. He was mostly known for his blocking prowess throughout his career, but caught quite a few passes as well (320), which puts him at 10th on the all time receptions list in Packer history. With a Super Bowl win in his 1995 rookie year and a Pro Bowl nod in 2004, Henderson had quite the career for a FB. I remember him being one of the highest rated FBs in Madden 04, and actually used Henderson often since I needed a great blocking FB to help out my low tier RBs like Shyrone Stith and Rod Smart.
Who wins the card? I originally was considering Franks given his three Pro Bowls, but this card clearly belongs to William Henderson, who stands the test of time as a Green Bay legend. This is surprisingly the third time a FB has won a card in this series for me, but the first time a FB has done so against multiple non FBs.
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