2018 COMC purchases: plates in batches

Just this post stands between you and my big finish to this latest COMC series, in which you'll see all the great stuff I found for my various football PCs.  That'll take me a while to put together because of the sheer volume of cards, but I think you'll enjoy today's stuff in the meantime.  Let's have a look at some football hits!:

Houston's Amobi Okoye was the higher selection of these two early 2007 draftees (#10 overall vs. #33) but I think he wouldn't mind changing careers with the other guy whose NFL tenure has lasted longer

I AM BECOME BRANCH, KILLER OF QBs

Both guys experienced some success in the league, though, so this 2007 Bowman Sterling Dual Autograph Gold Refractor dual auto (#347/400) is a nice addition to my Branch collection, now 17 cards strong.

Swiggity swooty, I got that J-Booty!  Butt is no stranger to my hits collection as I previously found him on a plate (shared with fellow 2017 draftee Taco Charlton) plus an autograph, and I hope he continues to be a more familiar face in these posts.  Here I found him on an signature card from Panini's perennially awesome Prestige product, one that features an excellent full-bleed design with great college action.  If you'd like you can misconstrue his John Hancock to look like "A Butt" if you have the same sense of humor I do.

And now it's time for:  na na na na na na na na PLATE RUN!

Plate #1 stars former Michigan RB Thomas Rawls, making his hits collection debut as player #213 thanks to this 2017 Elite Cyan Plate that was inserted into the same year's Plates & Patches product.  Rawls is one of those guys who transferred away from Michigan but still finds a place in my collection because I tend to stay flexible about things like that.  After three years in Ann Arbor he moved on to Central Michigan, had a very nice 2014 season there, then was picked up by Seattle.  Some Michigan fans were surprised by his success with the Chips and the 'Hawks and that's generally been attributed to misuse and poor coaching by the previous staff.  Hopefully he's now over some injuries and can again excite fans from two Michigan schools in the pros.

Our next player is a two-fer who's not making his hits debut since I was able to track down a signature of his.  Recent RB De'Veon Smith put up some good numbers--more than 2000 yards and 22 TDs--while in Ann Arbor, then was picked up by the Dolphins after last year's draft.  His NFL odds are long--he was let go after limited game action last year--but he made some big plays for the Maize and Blue and his cards are plenty cheap--I believe these two set me back under $6 apiece.  Smith joins Rawls with a plate from 2017 Elite (Yellow) and adds one from 2017 Unparalleled (Cyan) as well.  Once again these were inserted into 2017 Plates & Patches.

The 11th card in my LaMarr Woodley collection of hits is one of the best yet, a 2009 Topps Yellow plate.  What better color to find for a guy who enjoyed lots and lots of success with the Steelers?  I absolutely love the shot of him heading for one of his 11.5 sacks in 2008, a number he'd top during a Pro Bowl campaign the following year.

These new additions up my total to 109 1/1s!

Last up today is Ravens DE Chris Wormley on his 2017 Panini Contenders rookie auto.  Contenders is another design I can almost always get behind thanks to its ticket motif.  I'm fortunate to add this as my second Wormley auto since Jeff previously sent me an even better one back in February from Contenders' Draft Picks version, one that stars a great college photo.  Hopefully he'll see more game action this fall.

That's it for this post but as I mentioned, stay tuned for a big finish soonish!