Not for long Sean Lee Jersey , just for now.The former Colorado standout known as the "Tasmanian Devil " for his relentless motor is all ears these days in the Denver Broncos' meeting room."I have to get in where I fit in. Right now, that's learning and listening and being quiet," Lindsay said on the first day of rookie orientation Friday.
"My place is to listen to the veterans and coaches and take what they want and
establish it on the football field."That also means lining up wherever the Broncos want him to line up. He's willing to return kickoffs and punts, play special teams, become a situational
running back, even line up as a slot receiver.Anything to make this roster. He's got a solid chance especially given this: At least one rookie college free agent has made the Broncos' active roster out
of training camp in 13 of the last 14 years, including Pro Bowl cornerback Chris
Harris in 2011."I'm just going to showcase everything," Lindsay said.Being from Denver, Lindsay gets asked all the time by his fellow rookies about his city. He's sort of Denver's first ambassador, along with rookie
offensive lineman Sam Jones, who's a sixth-round pick out of Arizona State and
also hails from the Mile High City."A lot of times they think (Denver) is just cold," Lindsay said. "Now, they get to see it's dry, it's hot. It's beautiful."It didn't take long for Lindsay to have his first welcome-to-pro-football moment by simply walking into the locker room."It's like, 'Dang, it's really here,'" Lindsay said. "Now it's time for me to go and seize the moment."While with the Buffaloes Adidas Nikita Kucherov Jersey , Lindsay was an integral piece of the offense as he recorded back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. The 5-foot-8,
190-pound running back brought an edge and intensity to the backfield, but
didn't get selected in the recent draft.Still, he feels like he landed in a good situation with his hometown team. Lindsay joins a backfield that counts Devontae Booker as its veteran after
severing ties with C.J. Anderson. Royce Freeman was drafted in the third round
out of Oregon to play a big role as well.Lindsay and Freeman ??two Pac-12 tailbacks Jones saw plenty of while at Arizona State."I'm excited to wear the same jersey as him and Phil now, instead of having them run all over our defense," Jones said. "We can run all over somebody
else."Lindsay impressed the Broncos brass and coaching staff at his pro day by turning in a time of 4.39 seconds in his 40-yard dash. He also shined at the
Shrine Game, where he drew some comparisons to New England running back James
White."But I don't want to be like anybody else," Lindsay said. "I want to be like Phillip Lindsay, establishing myself with special teams and getting into the
playbook as a running back. ... I'm happy to be a part of the team and I'm ready
to get things going."NOTES: Jones said he's been learning the playbook under the tutelage of Broncos OL Connor McGovern. "Definitely a leg up going into camp," Jones said.
... WR DaeSean Hamilton of Penn State was wearing big glasses that would've made
LB Von Miller proud. "I took notices of the type of glasses that he wears," said
Hamilton, a fourth-round selection. "I like really fancy glasses, big glasses."
... David Williams, a seventh-round pick out of Arkansas, said of the wide-open
running back competition: "It's actually a great situation. If it was me in
college, I'd go to this school ??if it was a school ??because the situation is
so good." ... LB Keishawn Bierria Kolton Miller Jersey Raiders , a sixth-round pick from Washington, on learning the playbook: "It's a lot. But that's why we have the vets. We have the vets to
lean on. They'll also serve as teachers for us, too. The more time we spend with
them and get knowledge from them, it will be a lot easier." ... ILB Josey
Jewell, a fourth-round pick out of Iowa, is fond of his nickname The Outlaw. "It
happened in college and hopefully it keeps going," Jewell said.After retiring from the NFL a little more than a year ago, Evan Mathis decided to move closer to where he grew up in Alabama.And to get the kind of house he and his wife wanted, Mathis needed to free up some money. And that meant the avid sports card collector would have to part
with his prized possession: a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card."Just that image of the young Mickey Mantle, over the years it's been a centerpiece of the hobby," Mathis told The Associated Press by phone. "I guess
it's kind of like the Mona Lisa of the sports card world."Issued as part of its first set of baseball cards by Topps, the Mantle card is the marquee piece of a card-only spring collection by Heritage Auctions. It
is one of six versions of the card to have been rated a Mint 9 by PSA, one of
the leading sports memorabilia authenticators, with three others having earned a
Mint 10 rating.The card has been estimated by Heritage to be valued at $3.5 million. For comparison, the highest price paid for a card at auction was $3.12 million two
years ago for a 1909 Honus Wagner card."It's what I consider the new face of card collecting," said Chris Ivy, Heritage's director of sports auctions. "For decades it's been the (Wagner
card). For post-war (World War II) cards and the baby-boomer generation and
beyond Authentic Jessie Bates III Jersey , it really does come down to this '52 Topps rookie Mickey Mantle card, which has kind of moved from just sports
collecting to more of Americana."Ivy attributes the high value of the card Mathis is selling due to its centering, strong corners and print quality ??a rare combination, considering
"quality control wasn't the top issue" for Topps in the 1950s."The fact that this one came out of the factory in strong condition, survived for many decades in that same condition, didn't get put in spokes or thrown away
by mom is pretty miraculous," Ivy added.Bidding for items in the collection, which also includes cards from the 19th century, ends April 20.Mathis was a third-round pick by Carolina in the 2005 NFL draft. He retired in January 2017 after 12 seasons as an offensive guard with the Panthers, Miami,
Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Denver and Arizona. He was on the Broncos team that
won Super Bowl 50.He got into card collecting as a kid growing up a fan of Bo Jackson in Birmingham, Alabama, in the late 1980s. Jackson, who had attended high school in
nearby McCalla before starring in football and baseball at Auburn, was a
two-sport professional for the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders and baseball's Kansas
City Royals. Mathis Authentic Shayne Gostisbehere Jersey , about 6 years old then, started going to the store to buy packs of cards to get as many of Jackson as he could.By his recollection, Mathis got away from the hobby around the time he was in middle school before picking it up again years later when his own NFL career was
progressing and he could afford some of the cards he couldn't earlier. He was
drawn to the 1952 Mantle card and bought several versions of the card inferior
to the one he currently owns, and his best was a Mint 8 until about two years
ago. That's when a collector friend sent him a photo of his Mint 9 to show it
off, and Mathis knew he had to have it.Mathis said he traded the "vast majority" of his collection and agreed to a payment plan for rest of the value to get the card. Now, he's moving with his
wife, Katelynn, and their two daughters from Arizona to Tennessee to be close to
family, and needed to free up some money."I don't think I'll have any regrets because I'll have a nice house to show for it instead of the card," he said.Looking to expand the pool of potential buyers, Mathis is willing to accept cryptocurrency such as bitcoin as payment."A lot of new money was created in crypto," Mathis said. "There's a lot of people that might have some newfound riches that they might want to diversify
with, and I just kind of wanted to spread the target market out a little bit and
give those guys a chance to jump in."While Mathis is selling the card he owns now, he hasn't given up on the thought of acquiring one of the Mint 10 versions one day."It's not within my grasp at the moment," he said. "It's something to work for."Follow Vin Cherwoo at VinCherwooAP.
