We’re continuing our countdown of the Top Five dumbest McFarlane NFL figures of all time.
Click here to read Part 1.
3. Robbie Gould, Kicker, Chicago Bears, 2010 Collection
Best season: 2006 – 32-of-36 FG, 47-of-47 XP
Gould is a perfectly fine player and, in fact, he’s still in the NFL. Just last year he kicked for the San Francisco 49ers and finished 39-of-41 on his field goals. But there are plenty of good kickers Outside of Adam Viniatieri, no kicker currently playing is worth turning into a figure. Gould has made one Pro Bowl and been named to one All-Pro team, but that all happened four years before this figure was produced.
3. James Jackson, RB, Cleveland Browns, 2002 Collection
Best season: 2001 – 554 rushing yards, two touchdowns, seven receptions, 55 receiving yards
Speaking of Barber, he almost made the list and would have if not for three solid seasons from 2007 to 2009 where it looked like he might actually turn into a franchise back. Perennial “Who the hell is that guy?” Peyton Hillis too just missed the cut, but I defy anyone, anywhere outside of his own extended family to remember James Jackson ever existed, let alone suited up for an NFL team.
Jackson shows up in just the second season collection of McFarlane NFL Figures in what has to be the all-time worst group in the series. Along with Jackson, the 2002 set contains such “Hall of WTFers?” such as San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, Chicago Bears running back Anthony Thomas, and Carolina Panthers quarterback Chris Weinke. If I’d put together a Top 10 list, all of those guys would be on it, but none would (or could) be ranked higher than Jackson.
Jackson fits no criteria you would put together in selecting a guy worth a figure. He’d started just 10 games when this figure was produced, he wasn’t a first round pick (he was selected in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft) that 2001 rushing total came with an average of 2.8 yards per carry.
Three years after this figure hit the shelves, Jackson was out of the NFL. In a five-year career, he started a total of 16 games. At least he didn’t get a variant.
1. Jason Sehorn, St. Louis Rams, 2003 Collection
Best Season: 2001 – 13 starts, 62 tackles, three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, one forced fumble
Sehorn was one of the first athletic white dudes the world went nuts for in the modern NFL. He was a decent corner, but his presence in the league was elevated by his skin tone and the fact that he married Angie Harmon in her prime. In his nine years in the league, he never made a Pro Bowl and shouldn’t have. He was alright.
McFarlane made their first Sehorn figure in the 2002 collection after his best season as just one more ridiculous and undeserved accolade the former USC corner received. It’s the one pictured above. Why didn’t I run one of him in his Rams uniform? We’ll get to that.
There is no excuse at all to produce another figure after 2002. The same year Sehorn got his first McFarlane figure he was benched for Will Allen a month into the season and played nickle the rest of the way. When the year was over, the Giants cut him.
Now, that’s unquestionably a guy whose career is on the ropes. He tried to resuscitate it with the Rams as a safety and McFarlane jumped at the chance to make another figure of an overrated white guy. The Rams sent him packing at the end of the season and he never played another NFL down.
Of all the Rams figures ever produced, needless to say this one is the easiest to find and the cheapest to obtain. You can basically add a 2003 Rams Sehorn to your collection for the price of a Quarter Pounder meal from McDonald’s. McFarlane is apparently so embarrassed it ever manufactured this figure that there’s no evidence of it anywhere on the site. That’s why I had to run a Giants Sehorn photo. They still have hi-res and multi-angled shots of James Jackson, but according to their official NFL list, it’s like the Sehorn Rams figure never existed.
But it most certainly did. And it’s super dumb that it did.
