Week 2 NFL Overreactions: Card Market Impacts of Dart, Daniels Injuries
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NFL fans and card collectors were blessed with a riveting and explosive Week 1 that led to plenty of conversation and price bumps for certain quarterbacks. That took a dramatic 180 as three key QBs suffered serious injuries and a number of offenses faltered after marvelous season openers.
There are a few situations that are worth keeping your eye on, however, so let's get into the biggest talking points after a helter-skelter Week 2.
What Will Injuries to Jaxson Dart, Jayden Daniels, and Caleb Williams do to the Market?
Breaking: Further testing today revealed Giants QB Jaxson Dart’s knee injury is worse than initially thought, and the team and Dart now are facing the possibility of season-ending knee surgery, sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 22, 2026
Of all the QB injuries suffered in Week 2, Dart’s is turning out… pic.twitter.com/mZkEiyv4kW
If Week 1 was a celebration of offenses, Week 2 felt like the cleaning up of a party run by toddlers. While Caleb Williams appears to have escaped his injury scare relatively unscathed, the same can't be said for Jayden Daniels and Jaxson Dart.
The Commanders' quarterback dislocated his elbow in Sunday's loss to the Cowboys, the third time he's suffered that injury over the last 10 months. There doesn't appear to be any timetable for return, but assuming he avoids surgery he could be back in 4-5 weeks and while this hardly feels like a career-ending injury, "career altering" absolutely feels like a reasonable assumption given the serious, and repeated, nature of the ongoing issue.
Daniels' rookie Silver Prizm PSA 10 was selling in the $800-900 range prior to last year's November injury, cratering down to the low point of $570 by season's end. It feels likely that the same card could creep lower if the dynamic quarterback misses extended time, and that's before factoring in a Washington team that looks outmatched through two weeks and whose head coach is near the top of first head coach fired lists.
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart doesn't appear as lucky as Jayden Daniels. With news breaking that he'll need surgery and will likely miss the season, it doesn't look great.
Brocky Purdy and the 49ers are on the Rise
It's not necessarily something to raise the banner over, but after annihilating the Miami Dolphins, Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers enter the new year 2-0 with a date against the hapless Arizona Cardinals up next. Purdy was particularly impressive, throwing for nearly 300 yards and two passing touchdowns while completing all but two of his passes. The fifth-year quarterback is now tied for second with a smattering of QBs for six total touchdowns, and he's currently completing 80 percent of his pass attempts, albeit in two contests that San Fran had effectively won by the first half,
It's probably not surprising that the darling of the 2022 NFL Draft class is seeing an uptick given that performance, but it's just a reminder of how quickly the narrative can affect things. Purdy's card catalog has seen an uptick of close to 15 percent since June, and some of his flagship rookies, specifically the rookie Prizm PSA 10, is up close to $250 since the summer. That number could go up once again if the team does what it's supposed to do against its division rival, and a prolonged postseason push could have Purdy's market back to its initial 2022-23 highs.
Tyler Shough Is Going Up
Shough saw his market soar following the Week 1 near win over the Lions, which comes with a bit of irony, given that his incredibly poor play through the first 40 minutes was a direct byproduct of the team's frantic come-from-behind effort.
Just look at what's happened now with an admittedly impressive win in Baltimore following Week 2!
Two things are working in favor of the 26-year-old's market. For one, there simply aren't any recently drafted quarterbacks worth investing in thus far, as rookie No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza continues to marinate on the sidelines while speculative plays like Carson Beck or Shedeur Sanders have yet to see the field in 2026.
The other is likely far more important for this context. The Saints unquestionably play in the worst division in football and appear to be the odds-on favorite to win the NFC South through two weeks. At worst, Shough gets to compile stats against six bad teams a season, on top of legitimately good performances like the one he had in Week 2 against the Ravens.
At best, we're looking at a 2025 second-round pick who quarterbacks a team that, outside of three matchups against the NFC North and a potentially tricky game against the Bengals, could be favorites in every game moving forward. Shough's prospect profile was a legitimately dicey proposition, but his card market may be maturing into something too big to fail.
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Joe is an almost psychotic Wisconsin sports fan and long-time card collector. He has been producing videos, podcasts and articles across major sports and fantasy publications since 2015, and is likely the only person you know who has an Isaiah Simmons card collection.