Caleb Williams football cards fail to keep pace with quarterback's success
In this story:
Entering his rookie season, Caleb Williams was riding high. The USC Trojans standout and number one overall draft pick had led the previously aimless Chicago Bears to four straight preseason victories. Though Mordecai Brown could count the number of truly great franchise quarterbacks to play for Chicago on one hand, if not one finger, Bears fans and collectors were beginning to believe. This was different. Caleb was different. The year was going to be special.
Following a ten-game losing streak, however, Caleb and the Bears looked anything but ready to bring the Lombardi back to Chicago, and collectors who had paid handsomely for some of the signal callers more eilte cardboard were feeling nervous to say the least. Similarly, an awful lot of collectors who pulled the rookie's card from packs were a lot more interested in selling than holding.
RELATED: Caleb Williams: Buy or Sell?
Early Expectations
Reviewing Caleb Williams as a "Buy or Sell" a year ago, Collectibles on SI identified four reasons in favor of a Buy:
- Whatever the results so far, Caleb's skill set is unquestionably elite.
- The Bears are committed to their rookie QB and will keep providing the reps he needs to develop.
- Though it's easy to forget, even Peyton Manning went 3-13 in his first full season, but collectors who stuck with him have absolutely no regrets.
- Caleb's early setbacks offer what may be a rare window for collectors to "buy the dip."
At the moment, that list appears to have been right on the money. A little over a year later, Caleb Williams is looking every bit like the number one pick the Bears were counting on, and following an 0-2 start the Bears appear poised to go from worst to first in the stacked NFC North Division that saw three of the four teams top 11 wins last season.
RELATED: Unbelievable Caleb Williams Optic Downtown Gold Vinyl 1/1 Card Just Pulled
CARDS
But what about Caleb's cards? Strangely, the quarterback's resurgence on the field has not translated into an equal resurgence in the Hobby. Consider the 20 top Caleb Williams sales to date, according to CardLadder. All but two occurred before the Bears had won a single game this year. In other words, as Caleb and the Bears have racked up win after win, only two collectors have paid serious cash for his cardboard.
Now what about the sort of Caleb cards a little more accessible to the typical collector? A good example is his 2024 Panini base rookie card in PSA 10, roughly a $40 card these days according to CardLadder. Again, using CardLadder data, this was a $35 card back when the Bears were still 0 and 2 and had just come off a 52-21 beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Lions. Translation: The card has barely moved as Williams has upped his stock from possible bust to a Top 5 NFL quarterback and taken his Bears from laughingstocks to serious Super Bowl threats.
It's far too early, of course, to know where Caleb and company will finish this season, much less where Caleb will end up by the time his career is over. What is known, perhaps surprisingly, is that any collectors wondering if they missed their chance to "buy the dip" really didn't. Even as the Trojan legend takes the Monsters of the Midway to new heights, his card values have remained relatively flat.
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.