No player has drawn more interest from casual NFL fans this preseason than Shedeur Sanders.
And there haven’t been many bigger storylines after the first slate of games than Sanders' debut for the Cleveland Browns in which he threw for 138 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters of action during the Browns' 30-10 preseason victory over Carolina.
a full 12 minutes of 12, link below@crosscountrymtg | ???? https://t.co/lY47ML2sGt pic.twitter.com/gVZSyoFqJe
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 11, 2025
That interest hasn’t translated to the sports card market, however, and a little less than four months after falling all the way into the fifth round of the NFL Draft, Sanders has yet to gain traction with collectors beyond a handful of outlier cards.
Some of the early collector disinterest could be caused by the lack of flagship rookie cards featuring NFL uniforms — his key Donruss, Prizm, Optic and Select rookies should land in the coming months. For now, collectors have largely had to focus on collegiate cards, which are traditionally less desirable.
Of Sanders’ cards tracked by data tool Market Movers, his most important card in recent weeks has been his 2024 Select XRC Redemption. Released alongside last year’s rookie class, these redemptions will be some of Sanders’ earliest flagship rookies in a Browns jersey. Sanders’ 2024 Select XRC Prizm Base has jumped from $175 to about $350 over the last 30 days, according to Market Movers.
Several of Sanders’ top sales tracked by Market Movers over the last 30 days have been short-printed variations of that Select XRC Prizm, including the Autographs Gold /10 ($4,500) and the Tie-Dye /25 ($1,850).
Overall, Sanders’ total market has been lukewarm over the last month with limited volume. His cards tracked by Market Movers are up 20% collectively over the last month across about 550 total sales, and while that percentage increase is impressive, the volume shows an overall lack of widespread interest.
Of the football players tracked by Market Movers, Sanders’ 552 total sales ranks just 67th. Players with more sales than Sanders over that timeframe include Baker Mayfield (568 sales), Trey Lance (583), Justin Fields (890) and Arch Manning (1.1k).
Sentiment could certainly change in the coming months — Sanders winning Cleveland’s starting QB job could create that shift — but the 2025 rookie class overall appears to be weak at QB. The key members of the class could get a price bump when flagship rookies finally land, but collectors might still carry a negative view of Sanders if he isn’t starting and thriving by then.
On-field popularity doesn’t always translate to the collectibles industry, and Sanders could be the latest example.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.