Why Are Cornerbacks so Worthless?

[asymmetricalbet]

Why? It’s one of the most important positions especially in the modern game. But literally you can’t give them away. Whether they are the best now or historical legends. Champ Bailey has 9 cards that have ever sold for more than a grand. And when I say more than a grand, I also mean less than 1.5k. Darelle Revis, same situation.

[Retired hobbist]

Originally Posted by asymmetricalbet

Why? It’s one of the most important positions especially in the modern game. But literally you can’t give them away. Whether they are the best now or historical legends. Champ Bailey has 9 cards that have ever sold for more than a grand. And when I say more than a grand, I also mean less than 1.5k. Darelle Revis, same situation.

They don't produce sexy stats and historically they weren't that important when power running dominated football.

By the way I will take all of your Night Train Lane rookies off of your hands...

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Retired hobbist

They don't produce sexy stats and historically they weren't that important when power running dominated football.

By the way I will take all of your Night Train Lane rookies off of your hands...

All time bag fumble for me....

Sometime around 2000 or 2001 I randomly buy on eBay a Dick Lane PSA 9 Topps rookie for $54.

This is back even before you had to use Paypal, so the seller had some tricky way of payment. For some reason or another, my first attempt at payment didn't go through, so the seller and I agree to just cancel the sale without any negative feedback.

To this day the card is a Pop 6 with 0 PSA 10s.

[Retired hobbist]

Originally Posted by tjforce

All time bag fumble for me....

Sometime around 2000 or 2001 I randomly buy on eBay a Dick Lane PSA 9 Topps rookie for $54.

This is back even before you had to use Paypal, so the seller had some tricky way of payment. For some reason or another, my first attempt at payment didn't go through, so the seller and I agree to just cancel the sale without any negative feedback.

To this day the card is a Pop 6 with 0 PSA 10s.

Ha I remember this era of Ebay it was the wild west with payments and what was listed on the site.

I used to sell pirate copies of key NFL games and bought various things with the various payments...

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Retired hobbist

Ha I remember this era of Ebay it was the wild west with payments and what was listed on the site.

I used to sell pirate copies of key NFL games and bought various things with the various payments...

I remember riding my bike to the drug store to get a money order to send like $5.35 in an envelope to pay for a Keyshawn Johnson card. About a month later the card would arrive, so about the same time as going through the current eBay verification thing

[Retired hobbist]

Originally Posted by tjforce

I remember riding my bike to the drug store to get a money order to send like $5.35 in an envelope to pay for a Keyshawn Johnson card. About a month later the card would arrive, so about the same time as going through the current eBay verification thing

Ha I remember doing similar things to buy things on the Bay and buying money orders for random items....

Cash was the easiest way to pay for things but random theft was always a problem...

[majestik101]

As someone who paid a pretty penny for a low Pop Ronde Barber SP Authentic rookie PSA 10 a few months ago, I can personally say they're not worthless.

[nabzy28]

OMG, the memories of getting 5 USPS money orders then, going over to the counter, filling them all out and mailing, lol! And, yet... it was so rare to ever not receive what you paid for, etc. It was a complete free for all and, somehow, it worked.

As for just about every NFL player position outside of QB, you've got to really rely on team or player collectors keeping the interest alive. I've had this general conversation recently as in, wondering if once Fanatics/Topps being back in the NFL license will have all the breaker hype driving up values on defensive players and other overlooked players who should probably have way more interest and value.

[Seahawks fan]

Originally Posted by majestik101

As someone who paid a pretty penny for a low Pop Ronde Barber SP Authentic rookie PSA 10 a few months ago, I can personally say they're not worthless.

How much did that set you back? On Ebay raw is $43 and non PSA brand 10s for less than $200. That's how much some random rookie RPA goes for before they even play half a season. So relatively worthless in comparison to modern cards.

Yes overall CBs are very worthless which is why I feel bad when I see people paying high prices for current players. As a hawks fan and long time collector of CBs/DBs I saw a bunch of people paying huge prices for Tariq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon rookies. Those guys are vaguely comparable to a Marcus Trufant, Dave Brown, Shawn Springs, etc....and those guys can be had for pennies.

[asymmetricalbet]

ESPN just released their all quarter century team. The team had 5 cornerbacks. Here are each players sales of over 1k EVER.

Darelle Revis-9
Champ Bailey-9
Ronde Barber-2
Richard Sherman-5
Patrick Peterson-1

Only five of those sales above 2k. Highest is 4k. Besides that nothing over 3k.

By all modern standards this is basically worthless.

Everyone always talks about “after the covid boom.” But I’ll tell you, looking at these numbers, you can take a time machine to the pre-boom era just by collecting corners.

[hermanotarjeta]

They get burned more times than not.

[Archangel1775]

It's defense.

Why would you believe modern cornerbacks are supposed to valued over $1000? Who or what set that precedent?

There are two CB positions on the field on every down and really there are more when you include defensive backs in nickel and dime packages. The NFL is saturated with them.

So the only real standouts in the hobby are going to be those that play at the All-Pro level. Even then, how long will that last in today's NFL? Very few reach an elite level and only reach it for a short period.

You're smart enough to know that the game adjusted to "scoring" and thus protecting quarterbacks and also receivers. So longer careers. Hobby money is in the QB's though, you know that. So why would hobby money go elsewhere? There's is just more upside for all types of collector's/investors in the offense. But yeah. people still collect, whether player or team. So maybe $5 or $10 might be worthless to youm heck apparently $200 is, but there are a thousand times more people spending that amount in the hobby than the YT guys you seemed influenced by dropping $1000, $10,000, $100, 000 or whatever the cool thing to do is.

[Archangel1775]

Now when you talk All-Time Greats, you seemed to have left out Deion Sanders.

He's an anomaly and with him in the limelight as a leader and coach, his cards go for thousands particularly his late 90's inserts.


But as someone mentioned, a Dick Lane in PSA 10 would likley go for 5-figures as a Pop 1. You can expect to pay a few hundred for many other Hall of Fame corners Rookie Cards in PSA 10. The further you go back, the lower the pop of high grade rookie cards are available. Normally you'll see higher prices there. But to arbitrarily expect these guys to sell for $1000 or more is a flawed expectation.

[LondonGames]

Why Are Cornerbacks so Worthless?

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They aren't. But your false premises are.

[Archangel1775]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

They get burned more times than not.

There are something like 50-60 plays any given game. Corners definitely don't get burned more times than not. Its just the way we've come to understand the way the game is played. The same goes for offensive lineman. Imagine blocking LT, Reggie White or Aaron Donald for 50 plays and the one or two times you aren't successful, the entire game is considered a failure. Sucks but that's reality.

[ReggieBush22]

Pretty much all positions except QB are undervalued. It's always been that way in the football hobby. But if you're into CBs, that just means more buying power for you.

[nabzy28]

If they were allowed to hit like they did 30 years ago, there would absolutely be some valuable corner cards. These guys aren't allowed to look at a WR weird without getting flagged these days.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by ReggieBush22

Pretty much all positions except QB are undervalued. It's always been that way in the football hobby. But if you're into CBs, that just means more buying power for you.

Yep. You get a little bit more leeway with RBs from when they were the workhorses of the offense. Now, maybe WRs. Still a huge drop off from QBs. The other positions you need to be a transcendent, top tier HOFer for your position to get any love in the hobby. There was a HOF class from a few years back, six players, you can go out and buy there RCs raw and spend less than $50.

[Slette]

I wish they all were, it would have saved me a lot of money on some of the Cooper DeJeans I bought over the past few months.

[hermanotarjeta]

They are all five foot nothing and a hundred and nothing.

[Grid]

Collectable and important are 2 different things.

By most all standards, in order. The most important positions on a football team are:

#1- Quarterback
#2- Edge Rusher
#3- Left Tackle

So why arent people dishing out bags of cash for cards of Tristan Wirfs (All Pro LT for the Bucs) & Trey Hendrickson (All Pro edge for the Bengals)? Both are the best in the NFL right now, on the second and third most important positions. Why? Because those are not sexy collectable positions.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-in-todays-nfl

https://www.nfl.com/news/ranking-eac...p3000000503855

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Grid

Collectable and important are 2 different things.

By most all standards, in order. The most important positions on a football team are:

#1- Quarterback
#2- Edge Rusher
#3- Left Tackle

So why arent people dishing out bags of cash for cards of Tristan Wirfs (All Pro LT for the Bucs) & Trey Hendrickson (All Pro edge for the Bengals)? Both are the best in the NFL right now, on the second and third most important positions. Why? Because those are not sexy collectable positions.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-in-todays-nfl

https://www.nfl.com/news/ranking-eac...p3000000503855

Some Edge rushers get love.

Key Myles Garrett cards regularly sell for over $1k. It's a little tough because he has no autogrpahs, but his key golds sell well

[Grid]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Some Edge rushers get love.

Key Myles Garrett cards regularly sell for over $1k. It's a little tough because he has no autogrpahs, but his key golds sell well

No doubt, but Garrett and TJ Watt are like unicorns. Just because a handful sell well, but still well below elite or even just "good" QB's. Doesn't make the position a hobby darling.

The question of the thread was "Why Are Cornerbacks so Worthless?"

Maybe a couple CB's aren't worthless. But the general statement of an entire position stays true for most any beyond QB. DE's included.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Grid

No doubt, but Garrett and TJ Watt are like unicorns. Just because a handful sell well, but still well below elite or even just "good" QB's. Doesn't make the position a hobby darling.

The question of the thread was "Why Are Cornerbacks so Worthless?"

Maybe a couple CB's aren't worthless. But the general statement of an entire position stays true for most any beyond QB. DE's included.

Agreed.

I am interested in seeing how this generation's running backs hold up.

A few Wide Receivers from the late 90's, 00's and 10's have actually done pretty well. A Larry Fitz card just sold for $63k. Randy Moss sells well. A few other guys might not do huge dollars, but their best stuff still sells.

This generation has 1, maybe 2 running backs that could end up with the both the stats and the flash to not get forgotten.

Derrick Henry is 19th in rushing all time and coming off a 1,900 yard season. A 1,300 yard season gets him into the Top 10 all time. He's also already 6th in rushing TDs and just 17 out of 3rd place. I feel like another monster season might get his name up there with the all time greats.

Another one is Barkley. He doesn't have the career numbers, but he has some mystique, a Super Bowl, and a big market. I think he's a little more of a long shot but it's something to watch.



*Although I will say this: Good quarterbacks only hold value when the hope of being an all time top 10 guy is still there. Look at the prices of guys like Matt Ryan, Cam Netwon, Phillip Rivers, or a handful of other QBs that some of these young guys would love to end up doing as much as.

[Scottish Punk]

yeah, QBs who don't win Super Bowls get moved down the collecting ladder as time goes by. The QBs you mentioned aren't going to ever be in the high dollar tier.

One thing about Newton. If you look at 2011 Rookies. Julio, Von Miller, JJ Watt, Sherman, Cam Jordan, and even Patrick Peterson could all make the HOF and Newton's RCs will likely still sell for more.