My latest pickup is this 2006 San Diego Chargers away jersey of Malcom Floyd that was worn in 7 games. Although it was on the pricier end of my collecting range, it was undersold and is definitely worth more than I paid for it.

This jersey spoke to me because I watched a lot of Chargers games on TV when Floyd played and he had an impressive career. The seller advertised it as being from the 2004 season because a 2004 tag is sewn into the collar. The problem is, Malcom Floyd wore #13 in 2004 and spent 2005 on the practice squad.

I fired up the image searches and found photos of Floyd from multiple games in 2006 that feature distinctive characteristics on the jersey. I sent the seller an offer that was accepted and I received the gamer in the mail today.

With the jersey in my hands for closer evaluation, I was able to photomatch it to 6 games from the 2006 season, with an assumed 7th game in between those dates.

Floyd put in some serious work in those games, catching 9 balls for 170 yards and 2 TDs (the 2nd and 4th TDs of his career). He also registered his first career 100-yard game in a wild shootout against Cincinnati that saw nearly 1,000 yards of total offense. The metric that puts it over the top for me is that Floyd wore this jersey during two highlights featured on “NFL Primetime,” one which even warranted Chris Berman to give Floyd a “whoop!” after he shook some defenders. All in all, I’m thrilled to have it in my collection.

9/11/06 at Oakland

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10/1/06 at Baltimore

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1 reception, 31 yards, TD

10/15/06 at San Francisco

No photomatch

10/22/06 at Kansas City

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1 reception, 19 yards

11/12/06 at Cincinnati

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5 receptions, 109 yards, TD

11/19/06 at Denver

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1 reception, 7 yards

12/3/06 at Buffalo

Getty Image 120974327

1 reception, 4 yards

I recently acquired this game-used Western Kentucky University football jersey of linebacker Chris Bullard, dated to either 2009 or 2010.

I picked up this jersey for a few reasons. First, it shows great signs of use. Bullard was a linebacker despite the low jersey number, and his playing intensity shines through the holes and scrapes and tears. Next, I got it for a solid price. Most importantly, the guy who wore this jersey has enjoyed an impressive life journey.

Bullard played both football and baseball in college, totaling 50 tackles across 11 games for WKU his senior year then turning around and slugging .500 on the diamond the following spring. Even better, he was drafted by the Braves in the 34th round of the 2011 MLB draft. He put up decent numbers for the Rookie-league GCL Braves but his Major League dreams faded. He then joined the Army and looks to be off doing big things. Kudos to him.

A recent acquisition to my game-used jersey collection is this one of former Cowboys defensive back and special teams extraordinaire Keith Davis.

Keith had an interesting journey through the pros. He was undrafted out of Sam Houston State and signed with the Cowboys in 2002. A couple years into his pro career, he was shot while picking up a friend at a night club, and although he was an innocent bystander, Coach Parcells had him shipped to Europe to play for the Berlin Thunder. Keith had an amazing season in Europe and helped the Thunder win the 2004 World Bowl. He then came back to the Cowboys and had several productive seasons. Interesting side note: Davis was shot again - completely randomly - while driving to church in the Spring of 2006.

Davis wore this jersey in an October 29, 2006 game against the Panthers. The photo I used to match the jersey (Getty Image 72296494), shows Davis laughing on the sidelines while pushing Tony Romo’s hat down over his eyes. That date is a significant one for Cowboys fans because it’s the day Tony Romo had his first career start, stepping in for an aged Drew Bledsoe and leading the Cowboys to the playoffs.

My latest game-used jersey acquisition is this 2009 Purdue away game jersey worn by linebacker Joe Holland.

I found this jersey listed on eBay simply as a game-used Purdue jersey from the Joe Tiller coaching era. Although I’m not a Purdue fan (in fact, I went to Penn State), I quickly developed interest in this jersey because I’ll always be nostalgic for 2000s Big Ten football. In addition, it’s extremely difficult to find pre-NIL game-used college jerseys on the secondary market that still contain nameplates. I’ve observed from my research and experience scrolling through listings that most jerseys prior to the NIL period have nameplates removed by the school before they reach private hands.

Based on the nameplate and jersey number, I quickly identified that this jersey was worn by linebacker Joe Holland, who was a four-year defensive starter for the Boilermakers from 2008-2011. It’s clear that this jersey was worn during multiple games because it features several repairs and paint transfers of different colors. Photo-matching this jersey was extremely difficult because there aren’t many high-quality photos or video from Purdue football games prior to the mid-2010s. That said, I could quickly eliminate 2011 as the possible origin of this jersey because Purdue didn’t wear this style that season. The team didn’t wear nameplates in 2008 so I was down to 2009 or 2010 (or so I thought; more on that later).

I performed several dozen image searches for the 2009 season and watched some games on YouTube and I found some pretty solid evidence that the jersey was worn in Purdue’s game against Oregon, which featured a high-scoring showdown against a Ducks team led by Jeremiah Masoli (remember him?) and LaMichael James. Holland was all over the field that game, even registering a sack that knocked Oregon out of field goal range on an important drive late in the game.

Based on the maroon paint transfer marks, I’m pretty confident that the jersey was also worn at Minnesota that season as well. The evidence trail runs dry beyond that game, however. That said, I found some photos of Holland from the 2008 season that, although too grainy to photomatch, show the exact same jersey style and letter/logo alignment as this jersey. I’m thinking it’s possible that the jersey was a carryover from 2008-09, which would be incredible.

Joe was signed to the practice squads of a few NFL teams but never caught on in the pros, so he retired from football and followed in the footsteps of most former D1 linebackers: He went to dental school and started his own clinic. I’m sure this jersey would look great hanging in the lobby of his practice and I plan to help make that a reality someday.