The sports world continues to dominate the headlines while the NFL and football sit at the top of the sports landscape in the United States. One aspect of the sports world that continues to see heavy interest is sports card collecting including football trading cards. With the heavy demand and interest in football trading cards as well as sports cards, the sports card prices continue to increase in extreme values. As we have seen with the Top 10 Most Expensive Baseball Cards 2022, most if not all the Top 10 Most Expensive Football Cards 2022 are growing in value.

Headlining the list of the Top 10 Most Expensive Football Cards as of 2022 is a tandem of talented quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady as well as Joe Namath. Currently Patrick Mahomes sits atop the most expensive football cards All-Time with his record $4.3 million sale back in July 2021.

Top 10 Most Expensive Football Cards 2022

Million Dollar Football Cards Club – Most Expensive Football Cards

Only Patrick Mahomes 2017 Panini National Treasures 1/1 NFL Shield Logo BGS 8.5, and multiple Tom Brady 2000 Panini Contenders Autographs (Various Grades) have joined the $1 million dollar football card club. *Note multiple other Tom Brady Contenders Autographs sold over the past 1-2 years for at least $1 million plus dollars*

Top 10 Most Expensive Football Cards 2022

If you are new to sports cards, take the time to read our beginners guide to sports cards while also taking the opportunity to learn more about sports card grading with our sports card grading guide. As you continue to read on, you will learn more about the most expensive football cards in the world as well as deeper look into the various items impacting the value of football cards.

These factors include the ERA of the card is from, the year of the football card, how rare of a football card it is, and whether the card is graded. Here are the items impacting the most expensive football cards.

Items Impacting the Most Expensive Football Cards

ERA & Year of Football Card

Like other sports cards the ERA of the card and the year of the football card can make a key impact in the value of the football card. While football cards do no date back as far as baseball cards, they do present back to the late 1930’s. Like baseball cards, the earliest football cards were favorites of kids but the sports card collecting trends did not exist as they do to do. There were no penny sleeves or hard top loaders to protect the cards from getting damaged.

In theory the older the cards are and the better of the condition of the card is in the higher value of the football card.

Rarity of the Football Card

Like anything from rare antiques to extremely hard to find baseball cards, the rarer the football card is the more value the card presents. Now that said, cards have the potential to be rare right out of the pack of new release football card products as well as vintage football cards that receive high grades from third party grading companies such as BGS, PSA, CSG, and SGC.

With modern day football cards many factors can impact the rarity of the card including whether the card is a parallel, what type of parallel the card is, whether the card is numbered, has an autograph, features a piece of memorabilia, and is a football rookie card. For example, Panini Contenders Rookie Ticket Autographs contain an autograph and are typically numbered such as the Playoff Contenders Rookie Ticket Tom Brady rookie card numbered out of 100.  Some of these numbered cards can be numbered as low as one of one.

Graded Football Card or Non-Graded Football Card

One of the biggest trends in sports cards today is sports card grading which has boomed since the start of the pandemic. When it comes to football cards the value of the football card can vary based on the graded received from one of the many top sports grading companies. A football card that is ungraded will have a lower sale value compared to a graded football card with a grade of 9 or 10. Sports cards are graded on many factors including the condition of the corners, the surface, and centering.

Grade Value Received from Third Party Sports Grading Company

Now having a graded football card doesn’t automatically drive the value of the card up but it does have the potential to increase the value. It all depends on the value of the graded received from the third-party grading company. The higher the grade receive the higher the value of the card.

When comparing the top two Tom Brady Playoff Contenders Rookie Ticket autograph an BGS 9 sold for $3.1 million dollars compared to a BGS 8.5 that sold for $2.25 million dollars. In addition, grading vintage football cards can also drastically drive the value of the card up based on the population report of each specific card. Not sure what sports card grading company is better? Read our articles comparing BGS VS PSA, PSA VS SGC, CSG VS BGS, and BGS VS SGC.

Football Team of Football Player featured on Card

Another factor that impacts the value of the football card is the football team of the player you are looking to collect or sell. Like any other sport, different football teams based on their location and their success have larger followings. A team that has a larger fan base such as the Dallas Cowboys will impact the value of the football card value over that of a smaller less successful team such as the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Football Draft Location within NFL Draft

With modern day football cards, the higher the draft pick the higher the value of the football card in most cases. A top five NFL draft pick has a higher upside and potential than a second round NFL draft pick. In return, these rookie cards of the top NFL draft picks tend to have higher sale prices and values.

Football Position Played by Player

Another impact on modern day football cards while also contributing to the most expensive football cards of All-Time is the position played by the football player. When comparing prices of football cards on sports card marketplaces such as eBay and Check out My Cards (COMC) quarterback cards hold higher values over other offensive positional players such as wide receivers and running backs. Meanwhile defensive players cards are typically lower than those of offensive players.

Current Football Playing Trends (Hot, Cold, Awards, Call Up, Etc.)

Lastly another key factor impacting the value of sports cards is how the player is playing and whether they receive any types of awards or promoted to starter. For example, an undrafted quarterback wins the starting quarterback position, the value of his card shoots up in price while a player struggling and loses his starting position will see a drop in his value.

Top 10 Most Expensive Football Cards 2022

#10 1933 Goudey Sports Kings Jim Thorpe PSA 9

$138,000 sold by Heritage Auctions in August 2020

#9 1965 Topps Joe Namath RC PSA 9

$264,000 sold by Heritage Auctions in February 2018

#8 1958 Topps Jim Brown PSA 9

$336,000 sold by Heritage Auctions in November 2017

#7 1958 Topps Jim Brown PSA 9

$358,500 sold by Heritage Auctions in November 2016

#6 1935 National Chicle Bronko Nagurski PSA 9

$350,000 sold by Memory Lane in January 2011

#5 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Autograph Tom Brady BGS 8

$400,100 sold by PWCC Marketplace/eBay in February 2019

#4 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Autograph Tom Brady BGS 8

$1,320,000 sold by PWCC Marketplace in January 2021

#3 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Autograph Tom Brady BGS 8.5

$2,2582,854 sold by Lelands in April 2021

#2 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Autograph Tom Brady BGS 9

$3,107,372 sold by Lelands in July 2021

#1 2017 Panini National Treasures Platinum Patrick Mahomes 1/1 NFL Shield BGS 8.5

$4,300,000 sold by PWCC marketplace in July 2021

If you haven’t had the opportunity take a look at the Top 10 Most Expensive Hockey Cards, Top 10 Most Expensive Baseball Cards, the Top 10 Most Expensive Basketball Cards, and the Top 10 Most Expensive Soccer Cards. What football cards do you think have the potential to top these most expensive football cards?