NFL Draft Distractions
I watched the NFL Draft hoping to get a better handle on the hobby prospects of the draftees. It was a nice idea, but at this point, we all know the hobby future of the players: quarterbacks will be greatly overvalued and the rest will struggle to get any hobby attention. Rinse and repeat and have the same arguments. The hobby is stuck in a pattern with rookies and it is pointless to fight it.
After realizing I wasn’t going to glean any new hobby insights, I engaged in one of the hobby’s most dangerous activities: bored, directionless, eBay browsing. Wallets everywhere cower in fear when their owners are indiscriminately scrolling eBay. Luckily, the draft had inspired me to look up some favorite stars of yesteryear. I started the evening looking for wide receivers and running backs that were undervalued and I found some. I just didn’t expect them to all be retired already.
TNWTITC
What started as an evening devoted to the future of the NFL turned into a full-fledged nostalgic game I like to call “there’s no way this is that cheap” (TNWTITC). It’s a game that is normally dominated by baseball players from the 60s and 70s, but the non-Tom Brady NFL stars of the 90s onwards are starting to dominate this game in a big way. I had to put down the phone because the side effect of playing TNWTITC is an eBay shopping cart full of cards that have “won” the game.
It started with a LaDainian Tomlinson Absolute game-used ball RC. Growing up, I loved the Absolute Rookie Premiere cards with various pieces of event-worn memorabilia from the rookie premiere photo shoot/media day. The design is one I’ve always liked and one that Panini still uses from time to time. They also used to be very expensive. I focus primarily on baseball and don’t pay attention to the football market as much. In my head, these I just had assumed were still stupidly overpriced. You know what they say about assumptions and all that. I was wrong. I was dead wrong and the cards were dirt cheap.
LaDainian Tomlinson, Reggie Wayne, Marshawn Lynch, and other superstars have seen their Absolute Rookie Premiere materials cards drop so much that they are all available for under $20. It’s hard to find sales data for these, but the price on these had gotten high enough that I had them categorized as too expensive in my head. Part of the reason for the low prices is undeniably the hobby’s reluctance to buy cards of anyone but quarterbacks. These cards in particular have also been hit by the hobby’s rejection of high premiums for game-used cards. The “best” cards of these players were the game-used cards when these sets came out. Tastes changed and now the “best” is available for bargain basement prices.
But wait there’s more…
The thing is, it’s not just these players game-used cards that are cheap. It’s pretty much all of their cards from their playing days. There are many gorgeous and even rare 90’s and 00’s cards of HOF and players that should be in the HOF available for under $10. I’ve long wanted to do a challenge where people see who can get the best singles for the price of a blaster. I’d wager that an entry focusing on football stars like Calvin Johnson would do well.
It's also not just the non-quarterbacks that are cheap. Unless your name is Brady, your cards are affordable right now. I was most shocked at the current prices for players like Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, and even Peyton Manning.
I’m not saying don’t go out and buy the new draft class. I’m a Commanders fan and I will enjoy chasing Daniels’ cards. I’m just saying to check in on the older players if you haven’t in a while. You might find that those cards you wanted that were too expensive are now available for less than the price of a blaster.
Wrap Up
The end result of this is that my boredom with the hobby prospects of the new NFL players has inadvertently made me more excited about buying football cards than I have been in years. I had pegged a long list of players and cards as being too expensive and I’m glad I’ve updated my thinking.
