As mentioned last week, I miscounted when I started doing the Countdown to the Draft series–so, like all of the retail boxes I seem to love, you’re getting a bonus that really isn’t much of a bonus this week.
I counted find any Mr. Irrelevant cards–a little surprising, Mr. Irrelevant 2003 is an alumnus of Gustavus Adolphus College, where my wife went to school, and you would think I might try to find a card of him since he’s the only player from her school to sniff the NFL that I’m aware of.
So, with no Mr. Irrelevant cards to speak of, I went one extra step–the undrafted free agent. Despite there being probably hundreds of examples of solid pros who went undrafted, when I think undrafted free agents, for some reason I always think John Randle–of course, I had a Viking last week, and I don’t want to show too much favoritism around here, so representing the undrafted free agents will be Philadelphia Eagles WR Hank Baskett.
Of course, Baskett actually did start his career with the Vikings–as an undrafted free agent out of Nex Mexico in 2006, and a certain blogger in the Twin Cities thought it was a good signing. The Vikings, apparently preferring an known over an unknown, chose during training camp to trade him to the Eagles (head coach Brad Childress’s former team) for WR Billy McMullen.
Or, as he became known around this household, ‘Billy #$%^&* McMullen.’
Baskett caught 22 passes for 464 yards his rookie season (21.1 yards per catch), including games of 112 yards and a TD against the Cowboys, and 177 yards and a TD against the Falcons, with both TDs being over 80 yards. He added 16 catches for 25 yards in his second season.
Billy McMullen caught 23 passes for 307 yards and 2 TDs for the Vikings in 2006, and was cut before the 2007 season.
The card of Baskett is his 2006 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Refractor card. It’s #129 in the set, and books for $6. I’m sure I pulled it out of a retail pack or something back in 2006, as Topps Draft Picks & Prospects has been one of my preferred sets over the last few years (more on that a bit later).
