Team: Green Bay Packers
Position: Wide Receiver
Card Year: 1991
Card Maker: NFL Pro Set
Card Number: 160
As it states on the back of the card, Query was drafted from Millikin University in the fifth round of the 1989 NFL draft. He remains the only player to ever have been drafted out of Millikin University, part of a small percentage of NFL players to have played college football at a division three school, and part of an even smaller percentage of NFL players to have been drafted out of a division three school. The 1989 draft was not a particularly strong draft for wide receivers. The most prolific wide receiver career that resulted this draft was that of Andre Rison out of Michigan State - a good but not great receiver. However, this does not negate Query's accomplishment of making an NFL roster.
It should also be noted that he still has the 10th overall single game receiving performance (190 yards), the 8th and 10th overall single season receiving yards (783, and 830 yards respectively), and the 3rd overall career receiving yards (2548 yards) in Millikin University Football History.
In his rookie year, Query was the WR3 behind Sterling Sharpe and Perry Kemp with Magic Don Majkowski, in his only season starting all 16 games, at quarterback. This is the Green Bay Packers in their final few seasons before the arrival of Brett Favre - territory that given my age, I'm not all that familiar with. As a Lions fan, perhaps I would have enjoyed it a bit more than the Favre years. In any event, Query saw some time at receiver in his first year while managing punt returns and occasional kick returns. Per the official 1989 Green Bay Packers season recap, he had some hiccups (5:50) as well as some successes (7:21) and (11:09).
His second season with the Packers was his most productive with the team despite there being a shake up at quarterback as Majkowski tore his rotator cuff in the 10th game of the season against the Cardinals. Majkowski was replaced by Anthony Dilweg who tossed Query this very pretty touchdown pass (2:35), one of his two for the season, against the Rams. Query played one more season for the Packers but was released from the team after the 1991 season, unfortunately for him, just one season before Brett Favre would end up the starter after another Majkowski injury.
He was claimed off waivers by the Bengals for the 1992 season but only played as a receiver and was no longer returning punts, and was injured late in the season going on IR. He came back for his most productive career season in 1993 catching 56 balls for 654 yards and 4 touchdowns, starting all 16 games for the Bengals. Unfortunately, this was for a truly terrible Bengals team - one that only scored 14 offensive touchdowns all season. Query remained in Cincinnati for one more full season, and then in 1995 was released by the team and was signed by Washington where he would appear in one game, with no receptions. This would be the last stop of Jeff Query's career.
Jeff Query had an unlikely NFL career on some subpar teams with truly subpar quarterback situations. From what limited Linkedin research I could do, it appears that Jeff is now retired after a career with Subsea7, an offshore energy services company - that is, of course, assuming that there isn't another Jeff Query who graduated from Millikin University.
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