Patrick Mahomes rookie cards under $100

Patrick Mahomes' football card market skyrocketed amid the sports card industry boom in 2020. It settled well above pre-2020 levels, pricing many collectors out of obtaining a Mahomes rookie card. Nevertheless, three graded rookie cards routinely sell for under $100, putting them within reach for football card hobbyists of all budgets.

Patrick Mahomes is a three-time Super Bowl champion. Each of those victories he engineered as the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs saw him claim MVP honors, and he’s a two-time NFL MVP.

A sure-fire Pro Football Hall of Fame selection whenever he decides to hang up his cleats, the 30-year-old Mahomes’ résumé is so gaudy that it seems improbable that his football card values will ever dip back to where they were before the sports cards market exploded in 2020.

A wide swath of football card collectors missed the window to obtain some of Mahomes’ most notable rookie cards at bargain prices. Still, the man leading the Chiefs into the Week 3 edition of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” against the New York Giants has a few rookie cards that have settled at a price point where collectors of all budgets can snag a first-year card of arguably the best quarterback of his generation.

2017 Panini Score Football (#403)

Patrick Mahomes, football rookie cards — Patrick Mahomes' 2017 Panini Score Football base rookie card (#403) has a population of 2,350 in a PSA 9 grade. | Card Ladder

The main image on the card is a shot of Mahomes in action during his record-setting career as a quarterback at Texas Tech.

There’s no mention of the Chiefs taking Mahomes 10th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, which might not appeal to collectors. Regardless, the chance to own a PSA 9 Mahomes rookie card for less than $70 (according to sales data tracked and verified by Card Ladder) puts Mahomes’ base Score rookie card within reach for most collectors.

Before Sunday’s game against the Giants, the most recent PSA 9 Mahomes Score base rookie card (population of 2,350) sold for $59 in an eBay auction on Tuesday. If a prospective buyer can time an auction just right, as the winner of an eBay auction, which ended on Monday, Sept. 15, did, it’s hard to beat the value of scoring a PSA 9 Mahomes rookie card for $46.

2017 Prestige (#232)

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs, football rookie card — Patrick Mahomes' 2017 Panini Prestige Football base rookie card (#232) is one of his few low-end licensed rookie cards to include a Kansas City Chiefs logo. | Card Ladder

Mahomes’ base Prestige rookie card possesses several qualities that could make it more desirable to collectors than its Score counterpart.

With a PSA 9 population of 1,431, according to PSA’s website, there are 919 fewer PSA Prestige base cards in existence (452 graded higher) compared to the Score card (3,306 graded higher). While Mahomes is pictured on the front of the card in his Texas Tech uniform, the Prestige card includes the Chiefs logo, making it one of the few lower-tiered Panini products to mention the franchise with which Mahomes has spent his nine-year NFL career.

The price point Mahomes’ Prestige rookie card isn’t far off from the Score equivalent. According to Card Ladder, two PSA 9 copies have sold on eBay in September, both for $65, with the most recent sale occurring on Friday, Sept. 12.

2017 Panini Elite Draft Picks (#145)

Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech Red Raiders, football rookie cards — The basic nature of Patrick Mahomes' 2017 Panini Elite Draft Picks Football (#145) base rookie card makes it attainable for collectors just wanting to pick up a Mahomes rookie card. | Card Ladder

This is about as basic as a licensed base rookie card can get. The good news is that those qualities help make it an affordable option for those wanting to add a Mahomes rookie to their collection.

The Elite Draft Picks card lacks the lineage tied to the Score rookie card, namely, the set’s roots tracing back to the iconic 1989 Score Football release. The card, which has Mahomes pictured in his college uniform, only includes Panini’s RC shield logo in the upper right-hand corner to signify that it's a rookie card.

The most recent Card Ladder-verified sale of a PSA 9-graded copy sold for $49.88, which was the winning bid in an eBay auction that ended on Monday, Sept. 8. The highest sale among the last 14 verified by Card Ladder was a $60 eBay transaction on Thursday, Aug. 28.