I won’t overreact to Jayden Daniels’ hot start. I won’t overreact to Jayden Daniels’ hot start…

Maybe you’re saying this to yourself if you’re a Washington Commanders fan after watching the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft as the quarterback’s savior for four weeks. Or maybe you’re running down Pennsylvania Avenue with Josh Harris, Magic Johnson and Joe Theismann in your No. 5 Commanders jersey.

As for the football card collector, the hype machine is only in its infancy for Daniels. His signed cards in unlicensed sets (meaning professional or college team logos cannot be displayed) from Leaf and Topps sold for somewhere between $1,100 and $1,600 on eBay this week, through the sales database website Card Ladder.

And then came Wednesday’s boom.

Daniels’ 2024 Topps Now (the company’s print-to-order product) 1/1 autograph card inscribed “First card as a professional” sold for $35,100, a new record for a Daniels card.

This is the dilemma I face when creating my first set of QB power rankings within the world of football collectibles and memorabilia.

These periodic rankings will be more like the Billboard Hot 100, meaning who’s currently trending in the hobby of quarterback – the only position that matters to many collectors. It could be Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. Maybe Daniels or Caleb Williams. Or even Arch Manning or Shedeur Sanders. Some of this will be data-driven. Some of this will be subjective. All this will be moot.

For this draft, I’m leaving the 2024 NFL Draft class out of these power rankings. That’s unlikely to derail the Daniels hype train with the real hobby bombs coming once the 2024 Panini Prizm set releases (Panini released the 2023 set in January 2024), which will include some of Daniels’ most coveted rookie will include cards (not autographs, although Daniels’ autographed cards appear in Topps and Leaf products and not Panini).

That said, let’s dive into my top 10 list:

1.Tom Brady

Brady spent months as the top rusher in the 2023 Bowman Draft baseball set (take that, Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes), as collectors drooled over his Montreal Expos cards, which included a jersey match 12/50 inscription that read: ‘ IF BASEBALL DOESN’ When you’re not training, there’s always football.” More recently, Brady autograph cards emerged from 2023 Topps Composite and Motif football sets, selling anywhere from $2,000 to $3,400. Add in Brady’s increased visibility within the hobby at Fanatics Fest and Topps Rip Night earlier this summer (along with his day job in the TV booth for Fox) and the GOAT is the GOAT in the hobby again… for now.

2.Patrick Mahomes

If Brady hadn’t jumped back into the hobby feet first, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback would have easily finished at No. 1. Anyone in possession of a rookie, autograph or patch car of Mahomes should routinely leave. cartwheels in their living room. It didn’t matter that he opened last season with some of the worst numbers of his career. It doesn’t matter this year that his numbers to open 2024 are even worse. Mahomes is basically the Shohei Ohtani and Lionel Messi of today’s athletes for football card collectors. And because Mahomes hasn’t had autographs on NFL sets in recent years, his autographed cards won’t be cheap anytime soon.

3. CJ Stroud

This spot will seemingly be reserved for the best young prospect in the game, as Brady and Mahomes will be entrenched at the top of the hobby for the foreseeable future. The Houston Texans quarterback has been that way since his 2023 Prizm rookie cards went into circulation late last season. The cool thing about Stroud is that his rookie patch cars (RPA) are only now coming from the recently released Topps unlicensed 2023 sets, as he doesn’t sign for Panini products. My favorite has to be the Stroud/Victor Wembanyama double car cards from the 2024 Topps Series 2 baseball set (1/1 sold last month for $10,510).

4. Jordan Love

The Green Bay Packers quarterback scared collectors with a knee injury in Week 1 that had the potential to stall his market if it kept him out for an extended period of time. However, Love only missed two weeks, leaving the possibility of further increases still very much alive. As of now, Love’s cards are on par with or surpassing 2020 NFL Draft classmate Justin Herbert. And while NFL decision-makers hold Herbert in high regard, Love appears to be only scratching the surface as a legitimate starting quarterback playing for a historic franchise that is a Super Bowl contender this year. The runway for Love appears much longer than for Herbert with the lurching Los Angeles Chargers.

5. Joe Burrow

Here’s the part of the list where you can find the top established quarterbacks competing to take away at least one of Mahomes’ future Super Bowl chances. You can put Burrow, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson in any order depending on the day. To me, Burrow still stands taller for a number of reasons. First, he’s the only quarterback other than Brady to knock Mahomes out of the playoffs. And second, Burrow’s cards still seem to be selling higher, partly because of my first point. However, I wonder if the market will drop after an injury-marred 2023 season followed by a 1-3 start for the Bengals (even if his stats are still very good this year).

T-6. Josh Allen/Lamar Jackson

I might as well put these two physical wonders together. Both have irreplaceable skills. Jackson is home to as many league MVP trophies as Mahomes, Montana, Kurt Warner and Steve Young. Allen is among the top MVP candidates every year. Both headline an improving 2018 NFL Draft quarterback class. Both appear headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame if they continue on the same trajectory. But Allen and Jackson have a problem: a Mahomes problem. One would imagine that an MVP award for Allen would expand his market, as it would be his first, and therefore he would play incredibly well all season and be on his way to the postseason. But there’s only one way to break through the ceiling: win a Super Bowl.

8. Brock Purdy

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback probably has the least cache on this list. But he’s also the one quarterback with perhaps the best chance to win a Super Bowl. He played well enough for San Francisco to win one last year, but fell just short for Kansas City. And despite the 49ers’ mediocre 2-2 start, I find it hard not to buy San Francisco as the favorite in the NFC to reach Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. And the general public still doesn’t seem to believe in Purdy on the field, even though he ranks third in EPA (expected points added) per dropback this season behind Daniels and Allen, via TruMedia.

9. Justin Herbert

We’re in perpetual waiting mode for Herbert’s launch after years of parallel potential and disappointment. The Chargers quarterback could be interchangeable with the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence to some extent, as both players’ cards continue to sell for noticeable value. At least Herbert’s individual play has remained solid despite injuries and franchise ineptitude. That’s unlike Lawrence, whose on-field numbers often show he’s been more bad than good during his four NFL seasons. There’s no doubt that Herbert is about to disappear from this list.

10. Anthony Richardson

A month ago, the Colts quarterback might have been No. 5 on this list given the optimism surrounding his return for Year 2 after multiple injuries. His rookie season limited the 2023 No. 4 pick to just four games. Richardson was by far the biggest hunt for rookie autograph cards in any 2023 set since Stroud, Bryce Young and Will Levis didn’t sign Panini products. But combine his wildly erratic (and sometimes very exciting) play with another injury in Week 4 and how can anyone be confident in his market? Collectors are following suit. His 2023 silver Panini Prizm rookie card with a PSA gem mint 10 grade sold on eBay on September 16 for $557. The same card two weeks later (October 1) only sold for $169.50.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order): Every 2024 first-round quarterback (Daniels, Williams, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy, Bo Nix), Trevor Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields, Aaron Rodgers, Will Levis, Bryce Young two weeks ago

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(Top photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images for The Match)