Well, learning about Wayne Chrebet was an absolute treat! I am so glad I'm looking through and learning about a lot of these older players/cards. When I was a kid, there was no internet, so it feels like I am really, finally getting the most out of my cards two decades later. Nuts! It is such a surprisingly fulfilling feeling, and I can write about it on Hive. Just awesome.
All of this stuff to learn, just from these old cards sitting in my binders. Writing all of this is starting to feel like an epic unintentional project. I love it.
I hope I have a ridiculous mental database of NFL players and NFL knowledge by the time I'm done, WHENEVER that day comes.
I've had this Wayne Chrebet card for quite a long time. I literally had no idea he was actually any good. I had no idea this guy is absolutely a NJ/NY LEGEND. A football legend in general, but I can only imagine what type of legacy this guy has in that area specifically.
I mean, the card is of a New York Jets wide receiver, I had never heard of the dude, and so I just assumed the guy was just a random player that never amounted to anything.
Boy, was I wrong.
To start off, Wayne Chrebet is from not only New Jersey which is close to New York to begin with, but Chrebet is from NORTH Jersey, just a half an hour from The Big Apple.
Chrebet was born and raised in Garfield, New Jersey and then ended up going to college at Hofstra University, which is on Long Island, and then he was eventually signed by the New York Jets.
Oh by the way, the New York Jets actually play their games in East Rutherford, New Jersey which is just about ten-fifteen minutes from Chrebet's hometown of Garfield, New Jersey!
I mean, holy crap talk about a legit hometown hero!! The guy literally grew up and stayed a professional NFL player all within about a two hour driving vicinity I mean are you kidding me?!?! My goodness.
On top of that, Chrebet was not just simply a guy on the Jets, he was a highly productive offensive weapon for the better part of a decade!
I am really surprised I never heard of this guy!
After being signed as a free agent by the Jets in 1995, Chrebet managed to shock a lot of people by making the active roster despite being a bit undersized and coming from a smaller school.
Chrebet took his opportunity and absolutely ran with it. Chrebet pretty quickly forced people to take him seriously it seemed.
After a great college football career in New York, Chrebet continued to rep a NY squad as a professional and quickly his NY legendary status grew larger.
Chrebet had an above average rookie season that consisted of 66 receptions, 726 receiving yards, and 4 receiving touchdowns.
Over the next eleven seasons Chrebet was an excellent receiver. He never put up jaw-dropping numbers, but year in and year out he was very consistent and at times very very good.
Looking at Chrebet highlights on Youtube I get HEAVY Wes Welker/Julian Edelman vibes. Just an explosive, speedy, scrappy wide receiver.
His highlights are actually pretty epic!
Wayne Chrebet played eleven NFL season, all of them with the New York Jets. He appeared in 152 games, starting 104 of them. Here's some of his stats from that time:
- 580 Career Receptions
- 7,365 Receiving Yards
- 41 Touchdown Receptions
- 1x 1,000 Receiving Yard Season
- New York Jets Ring of Honor
Chrebet's Consistency
Chrebet was mostly healthy in about nine of his eleven pro seasons. In those seasons, an average NFL season for him would look something like this:
- 60 Receptions
- 769 Receiving Yards
- 4 Touchdown Receptions
That's some very respectable consistency!
Chrebet also appeared in six playoff games in his career. In those game he caught nineteen passes for 269 yards, and two touchdown catches.
Chrebet's career was not only pretty rock solid on the field, but the fact he spent his football playing career all in pretty much the same area, is just mindblowingly special. At like, a spiritual level, even. Sounds weird, but I don't know if there are many pro careers of any sort that have those sort of circumstances, at least not in America.
Besides that though, Chrebet's career is just one of those tough consistent careers. He may not have the pretty awards scattered throughout his list of accomplishments, but it's still a good career that deserves to be remembered, besides the epic hometown hero-ness of his story.
I'd love to hear any first hand memories of Chrebet from Jets fans, not sure if any of those exist on Hive or not LOL. Hopefully one day soon.
I bet there's some Jets fans that would be very interested in this card.
It's a pretty special card, glad I've got it! What a low-key legend!
Learning about Wayne was such a surprisingly fun task. Cards can uncover some cool stories and info. Even from two decades ago! Fun stuff.
Hopefully someone else learned something too. Hive on folks!
