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From Green Bay to eBay: Davante Adams’ Rookie Card Picks, Hot Auctions

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You may have gotten some sideways looks for piling up Davante Adams rookie cards during his first couple of seasons in the NFL. Drafted at a young age, it was clear the Fresno State product still had some growing to do, despite being a second round pick. These days, some believe Adams may be the NFL’s best receiver and he’s still young enough to continue putting up some remarkable numbers that are possibly Hall of Fame worthy before he’s through.

The good news is that while his rookie cards aren’t as cheap as they once were, most are priced well within range of those who like safe bets.

The Adams Annals

Adams was a two-way starter on the gridiron and a two-sport standout at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California.  During his senior year high school, he led the Vikings to a state championship, recorded over 60 receptions for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns and held it down on defense as a cornerback for the team. He was also respectable on the hardwood, being considered a two-star recruit and a four-year letter winner in basketball.

After some consideration, he chose to take his talents to Fresno State University and wasted no time making a splash. Even in his college debut he had over 100 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Weber State.  As a freshman, he recorded over 100 receptions for over 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns.
 
As a sophomore in 2013, he outdid himself by snagging in an amazing 131 passes for over 1,700 yards and 24 touchdowns while being awarded the Paul Warfield Trophy and garnering a second team All-American nod.
 
He would forego his final two college football seasons to enter of the 2014 NFL Draft where he was selected in the second round by the Green Bay Packers.
 
He came in to the league somewhat unheralded as the ninth overall receiver taken in the draft and was considered the number four receiver when he first stepped on the field for the Pack in 2014.
 
Adams’ rookie and second seasons in the league were somewhat lackluster, as he didn’t break the 500 yard plateau in either season and only grabbed four total touchdowns in those two years.
 
Everything changed in the offseason leading up to the 2016 NFL season. During this time, Adams was awarded the unofficial off-season MVP due to his level of dedication and sacrifice. All of that hard work paid off immediately opening the 2016 season as he recorded five touchdowns in the team’s first six games.
 
That breakout season saw him come up just shy of 1,000 yards receiving while pulling in 12 touchdowns.
 
From that point on it was full speed ahead as Adams has been the go-to guy for the Packers’ future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers ever since.
In 2020, Adams broke the Packers’ franchise record set decades ago by legendary receiver Don Hutson by catching a touchdown pass in his eighth consecutive game.  He’s also the first NFL receiver in history to have six-plus catches and a receiving TD in eight straight games.
 
The three-time Pro Bowler has a wide variety of rookie cards for review. Below we lay out three tiers of awesome Adams acquisitions for different budgets.  Below that, you can check out a real-time list of the most watched Davante Adams card auctions on eBay right now.

All-Pro Tier

2014 Immaculate Collection #118 Davante Adams JSY AU RC #99
 
 
As high-end products go, it’s pretty tough to beat Immaculate and yet this card is within reach of most collectors.   Numbered to 99 (there are lower-numbered parallels, too), this Adams rookie card offers a premium jersey swatch and an on-card auto. With sweeping gold foil and a nice image of a visored- up Adams with ball in hand. Despite it being on our upper tier, prices are still very reasonable when they’re offered.
 
2014 Panini National Treasures #301 Davante Adams JSY AU RC #/99
 
 
National Treasures rarely disappoints and this card is no different. It’s a horizontal card design with a large premium jersey swatch and an on-card auto at the bottom.  Also numbered to just 99, it’s more expensive than the Immaculate rookie above but you do get the NT pedigree, which does carry some weight with serious collectors.
  
2014 Limited #180B Davante Adams Phenoms JSY AU/199 RC
 
 
Another Adams rookie auto option at the higher end, the Limited is, well, a little limited, it seems with only a few copies offered on eBay at any one time.  It’s another horizontal design that makes solid use of a pretty nice-sized swatch.  Adams wasn’t really a “phenom” back then, just a rookie with potential who had his share of the dropsies, but eventually emerged to make former Packers’ GM Ted Thompson look like a genius.
 

Finally a Number One Tier

2014 Panini Playbook #148 Davante Adams JSY AU RC
 
 
A nicely designed booklet card from a product that specializes in them, this card has two high quality images on one side, coupled with a piece of event worn gear on one side, coupled with the autograph and more material on the other.   It’s a piece of art, really, although booklet cards aren’t everyone’s favorite.  Prices on these have been incredibly modest.
 
2014 Topps Inception #30R Davante Adams AU RC EXCH
 
 
Inception brings some interesting images and this one looks like it’s a poster for a blockbuster action movie. Great imagery, a cool design and a solid on-card auto catapults this one up the list into the second tier.  You can own one for less than the price of most hobby boxes.
 
2014 Panini Contenders #212A Davante Adams AU RC/(body turned right)
 
 
The classic Contenders Rookie Auto ticket lands in the mid-tier for Mr. Davante Adams. It brings the Contenders classic rookie ticket design, a nice on- card and an image. As usual with Contenders, there are photo variations of this card but this stands as the true RC is it lands in the middle to tier of our list with prices for ungraded examples sitting at around $100 or less.

Bulldog Tier

2014 Panini Black Gold #80 Davante Adams RC #/199
 
 
This is a nicely designed card featuring, you guessed it, black and gold. It offers a picture of Adams in action with an acetate clear pictured design. It’s a very sleek looking product and can be had for a very reasonable price.
 
2014 Panini Prizm #281 Davante Adams RC
 
 
The Prizm brand is sure to make an appearance somewhere on every single rookie card review. This one just so happens to be on Adams’ lowest tier. Upon its release it can be had for next to nothing and as the player grows, so grows the value of the card.  Photos can sometimes be a little disappointing but this action shot is a beauty.
 
There are colored parallels and autograph options o satisfy higher end collectors but your standard Adams Prizm rookie remains very much available and rather inexpensive.
 

2014 Topps Supreme #96 Davante Adams RC #/162

Yes, Topps was still making football cards during Adams’ rookie season.  The Supreme offers some shine, with bold lettering.  It’s rather busy but it’s something a little different than the norm. It pictures Adams running upfield, ball in hand.  Again, there are plenty of parallels but some of the standard issue examples have sold for just a buck or two in recent weeks (yes, really).  You’ll likely pay a little more now that Adams is getting a lot of attention but this card has to be one of the best deals in football cards right now.



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About Tony Reid

From the time he was a little kid, Tony has been a huge sports fan. If he could play sports, watch sports and talk about sports it was a great day. From as early as he was drawn to sports, Tony was drawn to collecting sports cards. Not much has changed over the years. He collects RCs of star players in baseball, basketball and football. He also has a soft spot for first autographs of MMA stars. If you want to talk to Tony about the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey, Jr. you can reach him at @reidrattlecage on all social media platforms.

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