Time To Cut It Out With The Cut Autos?

Alright, safe space here, but wanted to get a temp-check on how Christian McCaffrey collectors are feeling right now. 

In a year where expectations for running backs were quite low, some backs have emerged as potential MVP candidates - Saquon Barkley and, to a lesser extent Derrick Henry - while others are putting up career numbers in their own right. 

And if you pull back a bit further, of the top-10 touchdown scorers in the NFL, all but two of them are running backs, and one of those two is a QB (Jalen Hurts has 11 rushing touchdowns). Which leads me to CMC, who has battled through injuries this season to find himself tied with every placekicker in the NFL with a whopping zero touchdowns this season. 

That was your first pick in fantasy football this season, folks. 

What would trouble me as a CMC collector is that this was his 28-year-old season, where we start to talk about running backs being past their prime come 29 years old. 

So, are we panic selling?

It’s resonated a bit with a lot of people seeing as his base Rated Rookie in a PSA 10 is down over 43% in the last 30 days, according to Sports Card Investor. Of course that’s just his base card, which typically is the more mass-produced product. If you look at some of his short-print cards you’ll see there hasn’t been much change in the Kaboom! and Downtown markets - which tend to be where you’ll find collectors and investors hanging out. 

J.R.! ARE WE PANIC SELLING?!

This isn’t financial advice and I’m no tea leaf reader over here, but I would point to two things if I was trying to find a silver lining in whether or not CMC could reemerge: Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. 

Barkley was basically handed over to a divisional rival by the Giants because they weren’t sure that the injury-prone RB in his year 27 would be worth literally half the amount of money they were about to pay to their now-cut QB. Meanwhile, Henry, at 30 years old, leads the league in TDs after having been cast out by the Titans and ignored in the offseason by the Cowboys - who have no legitimate RBs on their roster. 

If I was a CMC collector I wouldn’t be panic selling, nor would I be taking advantage of “the dip.” 

Join me now in some collectible indignation as we play: “Cut it up” or “Hey, cut it out!”

Some conversation happening around the recently pulled Amelia Earhart 1/1 cut autograph card in the Topps Gilded Collection product. Two teams have emerged: the first team saying “hell yeah this is cool” and the second team erring on the side of “damn, bro, you cut up and ruined a historical artifact just to put it in an overpriced box of baseball cards.”

I’m less precious about these things - I think it’s cool that you, me, someone else has a chance to get a historical cut autograph. I’m also not much of a fighter, so I think I’ll just side with the conspiracy theorists who chimed in to say she faked her death. Which is pretty cool, too.  

Josh Allen just got engaged and boy are his cards skyrocketing! Why, because he got engaged? No, because he is absolutely torching teams - really good teams - and looks as good as he ever has. 

Patrick Mahomes still holds the mantle, but Josh Allen might be coming for it. 

My crazy-obsession of the week is trying to scoop up some 1992 Merlin Super Mario Bros. foil sticker cards in PSA because they are near impossible to gem and only insane people even consider grading them in the first place. 

The pop is very, very low on these fun, nostalgic cards. 

Maybe it’s just because it’s the holiday season, but I’m keeping an eye on the Jackson Holliday dip right now. He’s still just 20 years old and I know it’s couth to give up on professional athletes after just a quarter of a season, but not since Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor have we raved so vociferously about any man’s tools. 

I got my eye on the “Fun Face” short print. Love that card.

What do you think? A good buy-low candidate? Head over to Mantel to share your thoughts. 

Finally, hopefully everyone had a restful Thanksgiving weekend, because tis’ the season for holiday box breaks and broken holiday boxes. Literally. 

Those gifts, whether personal or thoughtful (or both!), are being packed and shipped in a frenzy and what might transpire is, well, something like this: 

Only the strong survive. Stay safe out there.