Joe Burrow is back in the Championship and he is yet again going to face off against Patrick Mahomes. It’s the Bengals vs. Chiefs Redux, and Patrick Mahomes has an injury with an upper ankle sprain. Burrow has doubted and panned by many football fans and by some sports card collectors, but if he gets into the Super Bowl a second time in a row it’s going to be hard to disrespect the young Burrow and what used to be considered one of he worst teams in football.

Patrick Mahomes has previously been dubbed as ‘The Next Tom Brady’ by the sports collectibles hobby and by his fans, but the young quarterback still likely has many years ahead of him whether he wins or loses. Beckett lists some 37 rookie Mahomes cards. And the hobby of sports collectibles can be quite unforgiving even after good news from a player. After all, the fractional market for some key Patrick Mahomes cards down well over 50% from the highs.

As of Tuesday, the Bengals were now favored to win over the Chiefs. This now puts the best money-odds for sports collectors on Joe Burrow. How that all pans out is another matter, mush of which is not known as of this time.

This all begs the question about which Joe Burrow rookie cards the hobby is (or should be most) focused on. Some are quite reasonable and some are expensive than luxury automobiles.

Also according to Beckett, there are 38 “rookie cards” of Joe Burrow. That is also before you get into the countless parallel variations like Blue, Red, Gold, Platinum, Black, Red Zone, Mosaic, Press Proof, Electric Etches, and so on.

Image above by PWCC Marketplace.

These are just some of the top rookie cards that Beckett and others have highlighted in the past. The countless parallels and variations have not been tallied up:

• 2020 Panini National Treasures Joe Burrow Rookie Patch Auco card #156 with a run of/99.
• 2020 Immaculate Collection Joe Burrow Rookie Patch Auto card #101 with a run of /99.
• 2020 Panini Impeccable Joe Burrow Rookie Helmet & Patch Auto card #101 with a run of /75.
• 2020 Panini Flawless Joe Burrow Rookie Auto card #101 /20

There is also the 2020 Panini Contenders Joe Burrow Rookie Autograph card #101 which is not the incredibly low population and is not a patch, it is not a serial numbered card, and according to multiple sources it is not even in the “short prints” in the set. It also has parallels but is a rather easily recognized card to chase.

There are also three different rookies of the Joe Burrow 2020 Panini Flawless Collegiate Rookie Patch auto (#102, #151, #153) with a limit to /25 each.

eBay now shows that many Joe Burrow rookie cards from 2020 have sold at high premiums. Whether or not these have all paid, settled, sent and everything to count as final and not returned is up to you. But here are some sales at the $10,000 and higher mark that have taken place since January 1, 2023:

• Jan. 22, 2023 — 2020 Panini Chronicles Draft Picks Joe Burrow #1 Gold Vinyl Auto 1/1 PSA 10 for $99,999.99 (or Best Offer” via maxwaxpax as seller.
• Jan. 23, 2023 — 2020 Flawless Joe Burrow RPA Rookie Dual 3 CLR Patch Auto /25 PSA 10 POP 2!!! for $25,000.00 after just 1 bid via “brochachocards” as the seller.
• Jan. 16, 2023 — 2020 Panini Green Shimmer Prizm #307 Joe Burrow Bengals RC Rookie 5/5 PSA 10 for $13,300.00 via probstein123 as seller after 61 bids.
• Jan. 23, 2023 — (x2) 2020 Contenders Joe Burrow Red Zone Rookie Auto SGC 9.5 & Variation SGC 9O for “best offer accepted after a $10,999.99 list via seller srobinson9985.
• Jan. 5, 2023 — JOE BURROW /25 PSA 10 ROOKIE AUTO PANDORA BLACK PRIZMS 151 RC 2020 DONRUSS OPTIC RATED ROOKIE AUTOGRAPH (SUPER RARE LOW POP /25) sold for $10,500.00 via seller bigboydsportscards3 after 37 bids.
• Jan. 16, 2023 — 2020 Panini Flawless Sapphire Joe Burrow RPA RC Patch 9/10 BGS 9 with 10 AUTO sold for $10,100.00 with probstein123 as the seller and after 47 bids.

PWCC Marketplace’s top 2 Joe Burrow sales listed ever are both from 2022:

• 2020 National Treasures Joe Burrow ROOKIE PATCH AUTO DNA 10 /99 #156 PSA 10 GEM PSA Population 1 of 8 sold for $210,000.00 on 12/04/2022 in the Fixed Price market.
• 2020 National Treasures Red Joe Burrow ROOKIE TAG PATCH AUTO 1/1 #156 PSA 9 MINT )notation — 1/1 Masterpiece – Only Copy Ever Made) sold on 7/21/2022 for $204,000 in the premier auction.

PWCC Marketplace has seen several sales take place in recent days:

• 2020 Panini Contenders Cracked Ice Joe Burrow ROOKIE AUTO /22 #101 BGS 9.5 GEM BGS Population 1 of 12 (None Graded Higher) on 1/24/2023 for $20,000 in the fixed price market.
• 2020 Panini Contenders Red Zone Joe Burrow ROOKIE AUTO #101 PSA 10 GEM MINT (PSA Population 1 of 13) on 1/24/2023 for $7,000 in the fixed price market.
• 2020 Panini Origins Red Joe Burrow ROOKIE AUTO DNA 10 /99 #RA-JB PSA 9 MINT (PSA Pop. 1 of 3 and Five Graded Higher note) on 1/23/2023 for $2,500 in the fixed price market.
• 2020 Panini Prizm Blue Ice Prizms Joe Burrow ROOKIE /99 #307 PSA 10 GEM MINT sold on 1/22/2023 for $5,640 in the weekly auction.

Elsewhere, this is the top Joe Burrow sale via Goldin.co: 2020 Panini Contenders #101 Joe Burrow Super Bowl Ticket Autograph Rookie Card (#1/1) – BGS GEM MINT 9.5/BGS 10 (TRUE GEM MINT!) sold for $181,200.00 in the Godin Elite Auction from May 22-23.

It’s hard to know which of these cards is “the best for collectors” because there are budget issues for most collectors and there are definitely supply issues in the parallels mentioned above. Either way, more than 30 different rookie cards for any player, plus the multiplier effect for the parallel cards, makes the argument of manufactured scarcity pretty difficult to go against.