This weekend’s NFL playoff games will showcase some of sports collecting’s hottest—and most reliable—quarterbacks. On one side of the bracket are a trio of players who seemingly made time stand still. On the other are the young stars looking to build on their own legacies, a history making quartet that have kept the hobby’s prospectors busy for the last few years.
For Heritage Auctions, the timing couldn’t be much better. The company’s newly launched Modern Trading Card Auction includes a stack of higher end cards featuring, well, all of them.
All four starting quarterbacks remaining in the AFC playoffs are under the age of 26: Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen. It’s the first time that all four starting quarterbacks in one conference in the Divisional playoffs are under the age of 26. It also marks the second time in the common-draft era that three first-round quarterbacks from the same NFL Draft (Jackson, Mayfield and Allen) will start in the Divisional playoffs in the same postseason.
With a win on Sunday against Cleveland, Mahomes can become the first starting quarterback under the age of 26 to make three Championship game appearances in NFL history.
The Heritage auction includes multiple Mahomes cards including a 2017 Panini Prizm Red Power graded PSA 10 that’s expected to sell for $35,000 or more, a 2017 Flawless Diamond #/10 that should fetch at least $10,000 and a 2017 Certified Mirror Orange (# to 25) that is projected to reach roughly the same neighborhood.
Allen is the major reason why Buffalo is back in business. The 2018 Panini Immaculate Collection Premium Patch Rookie Autograph graded 10 with a 10 auto offered in the auction has already surpassed its pre-sale estimate.
The 2018 Panini Impeccable Collection Baker Mayfield Premium Patch Rookie Autograph PSA 10 will also blow past its predicted outcome.
When Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady (43 years, 167 days old on Sunday) and New Orleans’ Drew Brees (42 years and two days old) face off, it’ll be the first postseason game to feature two opposing quarterbacks age 40 or older. Their combined age is the oldest in any single game in the 100-year history of pro football.
They’re not just old, though. Brady and Brees are the most prolific passers in NFL history.
Among the high-end autographed cards of both longbeards is a 2015 Panini Flawless “Memorable Marks” Brady Ruby Autograph graded BGS 9.5 and a National Treasures Colossal Signature Materials Prime Brees Patch Autograph (#5/5).
When the Packers face the Rams on Saturday, it’ll be another playoff game in the phenomenal career of Aaron Rodgers, the heavy favorite to win the 2020 NFL MVP award. Rodgers has thrown a touchdown pass in 14 straight playoff games, tied for the fourth longest streak in postseason history.
The auction will feature one of the better Rodgers cards issued in the last five years—a 2016 Flawless Dual Patch Auto numbered to 5 and graded 9.5 by BGS.
The auction includes 457 lots in all, with bidding underway now through Thursday, Feb. 4.