Yagabomb’s risers and fallers from NFL week 3

By David Yarger

Co-Host The Chase

What’s up, collectors! Football season is in full force and hobbyists high and low are keeping their eyes peeled week to week to check who is hot and who is not.

In this blog, we’re going to pick one riser of the week, whose card values should be rising after a stellar week, and, of course, one faller, whose values took a dip after a rough game. 

Data will be taken from the eBay price guide, and all searches will be done as follows: Player name rookie card.

Let’s start off with a player who I think is one of the top risers of the week. 

Top Riser: Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs, TE

Listen, as a Bills fan and a guy who gets annoyed by the Taylor Swift hype trains, this was a tough pill to swallow. 

While tight ends are severely undervalued in the hobby, Kelce will likely go down as the best to ever play the position – well, at least up there with Rob Gronkowski and Tony Gonzalez. What he has done at the position will be tough to ever be replicated. 

My thoughts of him as a top riser go way beyond player performance. Unless, you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Kelce is now dating superstar singer Taylor Swift. With Swift’s name, that brings a huge following to his name. 

Not card related, but Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin tweeted an article that Kelce’s jersey sales rose 400%. 

Now, while I don’t expect the Swiftys to flock into the hobby (if they aren’t already), Kelce’s values have definitely seen a little rise – nothing absolutely groundbreaking. 

Over the last week, Kelce rookie cards have risen from an average of $28.10 on Sept. 20 (33 sales), to an average of $49.12 on Sept. 23 (17 sales). Even on game day the next day, where collectors got to witness Swift in the suite, his average was still $46.86 from 39 sales. 

While this may not seem like much, it must be noted, that this includes raw rookie sales, in addition to graded sales, as well. 

Kelce also performed on the field as well, scoring a touchdown. 

So while tight ends seem to be a “Blank Space,” might we call it, in the hobby, it is definitely intriguing to see if this “Love Story” adds to the “invisible string” of Kelce’s hobby value.  

Honorable Mention: CJ Stroud, Houston Texans, QB 

Top Faller: Sam Howell, Washington Commanders, QB

This is a tough decision this week, because he’s still very young and will learn from his atrocious performance versus the Bills. 

After a 2-0 start, football fans and hobbyists were intrigued to see how Howell and the Commanders would fare against quality competition. A 37-3 loss at home does not help ease collectors confidence. 

Now, I will admit, it is just one game, but Howell will have to face off against more stellar defenses, including two in his own division – the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles. 

You could essentially say that this is Howell’s rookie year, with him receiving just one start last season in a meaningless end of the season game. 

Another interesting aspect to Howell is that last year’s class of quarterbacks was arguably one of the weakest in some time with Howell, Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis to name a few – with the standout being Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy. So many collectors are holding out hope that Howell can possibly help turnaround the 2022 QB class. 

According to the eBay price guide, Howell’s value didn’t take too much of a dip the day after the blowout loss – $24.28 average sales on Sunday, Sept. 24 followed by $21.01 on Monday – which, to me, is collectors still having faith despite one game. 

It’s quite simple though, if Howell can have a bounce back game this Sunday versus the Eagles, all faith will be restored. So while the sky isn’t falling, you could say some clouds are rolling in. 

In one collector’s opinion, Howell is a risky hold, so if he does have a great game against the defending runner ups, sell while the hype is there. 

Honorable? Mention: Justin Fields, Chicago Bears, QB (Dude, Chicago is bad…)

Stay tuned next week for the top risers and fallers of week four, and as always make sure you are checking out The Chase at 11 a.m. EST every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Twitch.