It is finished!

It happened everyone...I finally found the Dolphins quad needed to finish my 2002 Pacific Heads Up Quads set.  It was actually a little bit ago, and thanks to an Ebay Saved Search for "Dolphins Quad."  That routinely brought up nothing month after month, but finally one day a $15 BIN was posted.  I could not hit that purchase button fast enough!

I'll post a reflection on the collection in a few days, but for this post we'll just focus on the card in question.  So for the last time with this set (Unless I decide to go back and cover the cards I missed), let's do a round of who wins the card.

Oronde Gadsden had a pretty short NFL career (1995-2003, but he only really played 1998-2003), but I remember him very fondly as formidable threat whenever he faced the Patriots.  It's kind of cool to review his path to the Dolphins.  He went to the Cowboys as an undrafted guy, then to the Steelers, and then to the World League.  That might've been it had he now starred in 1997 in the AFL for the Portland Forest Dragons.  As a WR/LB, he won rookie of the year with 93 receptions for 1,335 yards and 37 touchdowns across 14 games.  That'll get you noticed by NFL scouts!  He followed that up with four pretty consistent WR seasons (Between 48 and 56 receptions, between 674 and 803 yards) before finishing with two injury plagued years and calling it a career.  One cool note about Gadsden - he caught Dan Marino's final touchdown pass.

Jay Fiedler is a name I always misspell (I also often misspell misspell).  I actually had a saved search at one point that included Fiedler since he's one of the more well known guys on this card and had it spelled Fielder (Like Cecil), so maybe that's part of why it took so long to find this card.  Oops!

Fiedler was undrafted by the Eagles in 1994, and served as a backup for 1994 and 1995.  He then was out of the league, but like Gadsden showed his talents in another league to get back to the NFL.  He wasn't very good for the Amsterdam Admirals - 2:8 TD:INT ratio, 42% completion percentage - but the Vikings liked what they saw and made him a backup QB in 1998.  The Jaguars did the same in 1999, before the Dolphins signed him to battle Damon Huard for the right to succeed Dan Marino.  And Fiedler won!  He was decent as a starter, always throwing a few too many picks but with some rushing ability.  The Dolphins defense was incredible at the time, so Fiedler won a lot of games too, and is actually the last Dolphins QB to win a playoff game way back in 2000.  After a few years of diminishing returns and QB battles, Fiedler moved on to the Jets as a backup for a year and called it a career a few years later in 2008.

Travis Minor had some hubbub coming out of college. as I suppose many Florida State skill players did in the early 00s.  It was enough to earn him a third round selection by the Dolphins in 2001, where he could develop his skills behind lead back Lamar Smith.  He showed off pretty decent skills as a rookie in a third down back/change of pace role, including 4.8 yards per carry and 29 receptions.  A season later the Dolphins added Ricky Williams though, and so Minor was never really able to climb out of his initial role.  He did start four games in 2004 while Ricky Williams was suspended, but otherwise was a career backup over his 6 Dolphin and 2 Rams seasons.  

Zach Thomas is the name you know on this card, and for good reason, as he was finally elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.  Surprisingly picked in the fifth round in 1996 (And as the Dolphins 2nd LB pick after LaCurtis Jones), Thomas quickly rose up the Dolphins ranks and made a name for himself.  As a rookie, he unseated veteran MLB and off and on NFL head coach Jack Del Rio for the starting spot and never looked back.  Thomas is currently fifth all time in solo tackles, and was named to seven Pro Bowls and five 1st Team All Pro squads.  He finished his career with a single Cowboys season, but will always be remembered as one of the best Dolphins of all time.

So who wins the card?  I have very fond memories of Oronde Gadsden, but anyone winning this card over Zach Thomas would be criminal.  The man's a Hall of Famer after all!