Collector Nation - J.J. McCarthy’s Trade Sent His Cards Up 500%… Is It Real or Just Hype?

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Ryan Alford and Bella are back with this week's Collector Nation, starting with Michael Jordan's "Last Dance" Finals jersey selling for a record $12.26 million. They discuss what the price says about game-worn memorabilia versus trading cards, and why the chance to pull a 1/1 yourself adds so much value to cards. The conversation turns to the grading crunch, as Beckett and PSA struggle to keep up with demand. Ryan shares how collectors should approach grading right now and introduces Collector Nation's new grading tracker, which compares pricing and turnaround across every major grader. They also discuss counterfeit concerns and why authentication matters more than ever. On the football side, Ryan makes his buy calls on Brock Purdy and Kirk Cousins. He and Bella also cover the Bears' upset of the Eagles, Drake Maye's rough stretch, a QB trade that sent cards soaring, and Jaxson Dart's market after his injury. They close by ripping 2026 Bowman Football mega boxes and sharing an honest review. Topics Covered Michael Jordan's record $12.26M jersey sale Cards vs. game-worn memorabilia Big sales across the hobby Beckett and PSA grading demand Collector Nation's grading tracker Counterfeits and authentication Brock Purdy and Kirk Cousins buy calls Bears upset the Eagles Drake Maye's slump QB trade sends cards up 500% Jaxson Dart after injury Hype vs. performance in the card market 2026 Bowman Football mega box rip and review 🔗 Links Mentioned in This Episode Collector Nation Website: https://thecollectornation.com Grading Tracker: App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/collector-nation/id6795562084 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectornation_ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecollectornation YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecollectornation Collector Station Website: https://thecollectorstation.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectorstation Ryan Alford Website: https://www.ryanalford.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford ⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, follow Collector Nation, leave a 5-star review, download the free Collector Nation app, and share it with another collector.

Mr. J.J. McCarthy got traded from the Vikings to the Giants. His card market is absolutely skyrocketing. It's at 500% just from the snooze of a trade. I've been quietly buying JJ's card the last three months. Seeing it go down to like two or three bucks, I was like, what? I didn't even know how it had to gone that far. The floor was there because there was only upside, and that's kind of what it is now. His 2024 mini prism silver card went from $3.36 to,

$20.19. Definitely an indicator of where his market could go if he continues to get playtime. He's got a great chance to show what he can do because I just think no matter what Harbaugh says, you know, James is our quarterback the rest of the season. No, he's not. If James plays well, he will be, but so far he's played so-so. Yeah. If he has another game or two like that, you watch, JJ will be on the field.

I think the market is pricing it for that accordingly, trying to get ahead of it. So you need to get in now, or you're kind of in this waiting. see what happens game by game a little bit. Yep. I'm Ryan Alford. And I'm Bella Schaefer. And this is Collector Nation. We're curating all of the content in the hobby just for you all in one place.

All the videos, all the podcasts, all the reels, all those drops you want right here, right now. What's up guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. You got R&B. Hello, hello. Yeah. We need a beat for that. I'm hearing it in my head

when I say it One of these days Yeah It won't be me B-bopping though I've ever I promise I won't Oh okay

Yeah Okay Cut his mic Cut his mic Get him off the stage Well we hope you are all Doing well On this fine day

We are recording this on the Thursday I know Timely A little bit different here We won't tell you I Yeah yeah I Yeah

It's show business. Everything happens. All that matters is we're here and we're doing well. And you know what's doing well? I think the high end of the hobby is doing well. I mean, it's doing crazy well. We had a $37.9 million week in the hobby. This includes the Michael Jordan Game 3 jersey that we had Rob Goff on a couple weeks ago

which sold for $12.26 million. A Pikachu card that went for $8.4 million. The Cooper Flag Logo Man, $8 million. Dylan Harper's card for 2.8. Concanuples for 2.3. An Otani card for 2.8. And a Crow Armstrong for $1.098 million. All right.

Oh, that was a mouthful. We throw a lot of big numbers around a lot. I say this to people all the time because, like, when you're looking at data, you get like the news, a billion of this. I mean, go sit in a room with a thousand people. You know, it's a lot. And then go sit in room with a thousand, like a million dollars of ones. It's a lot of money.

A lot of money being thrown around. I don't know what it means. I know what it means, but it's such, and I think it's headlines. It gets people's attention. But it's such a fragment of the hobby. You know, like the everyday collector is not, and I would throw myself in there, I'm not spending $8 million on cards. I mean, sorry.

Yeah. And I think it is interesting because, you know, we talked about this when Rob was on the show. The jersey went for 12.2. You had expected much higher. I had expected much higher. And, you know, it went for only $2 million over what a different jersey from that same series went for. That was a game that they didn't win. Yeah.

So it's very interesting. And actually one of Michael, or his most expensive card, went for $12.8 million, which Fanatics posted when the flag card sold. So I just think it's interesting, that kind of dichotomy, that the jersey, I feel like, should be theoretically more valuable. But those cards are really taking over that market space. I think it's the collectibility. You know, in a weird way, it's the small size, the familiarity, the availability. and even though these are the high-end collectors that could afford anything, the guys that are buying the $8 million cards could buy $20 million jerseys or 15.

But I think it just holds this intrinsic collectability value that's higher relatively, even to the scarcity and rarity because that jersey, you can argue it's not much more scarce than that. Jordan winning the title and there's only one of them. Yep. So it's one-on-one from that game. So I don't know, but I do think it's something about that cardboard, you know, the size. Yeah, and I think it really goes back down to the relatability of it.

Like a jersey isn't really all that relatable because you never were going to wear it. There was no chance you were going to wear that. I would wear it. But, you know, that's just me. I'm a little eccentric that way. Well, no, no. I mean, like, you were never going to be Michael Jordan. No, that is no certain. There's no doubt about that.

You were never going to be Michael Jordan. You were never going to wear that. There was no possibility that other than you being a billionaire, you were going to have that jersey. Whereas the card, you know, an average Joe Smow off the street who walked into their local car shop could have pulled, you know, that Michael Jordan card or could have pulled the Cooper flag card. Yeah. But they, but the person that buying it is someone very wealthy that it's, that's relatable to them too, the high end. Yeah. So even the everyday collector.

And I just think it's the. I think that it shows there's probably more room for the hobby to grow. But it also, it does sort of put a cap. I'm not saying it puts a cap, like, I mean, anything can go for whatever. Yeah. But I think the most ardent collector expert thought that thing was in the 20 to 50 million, you know. And you can't be disappointed at almost 13 million, 12, 13 million. Not at all.

What do you do? I just think I'm not sure exactly what it means for the everyday. Like. I don't. It's interesting. I think it's a catalyst for expansion of the hobby because the news is so big. More people hear about it and get excited about it that might start collecting every day. Yeah.

I think it's the PR. It's the PR arm of the hobby. is the high end. And I mean, that's what we saw with Cooper Flags card. And Dan Jamison actually had a really good point about, you know, high-end collectibles and the value and scarcity behind them. Because Cooper Flags Card was sitting at, you know, like $3 million and some change up until the end, which, you know, you had talked about sitting there watching it with your boys and being a little shocked. And then at 2 a.m., it skyrocketed to $8 million. So let's hear from Dan about what he had to say there. I think it's an interesting point. So I know we always try to

learn from the best and it's sort of upper deck have got michael jordan and upper deck doubled the price and they and i'm saying that's a bit hard i said well we sold the same amount i'm like okay it's like it's a they've ever heard of anything called a veblen good i don't remember why but i've in the memory books from something it's basically it's got an inverse demand curve yeah the more expensive it gets, the more demand goes up, the more you want it. And you've got to create that value with sort of scarcity marketing. Yeah, so, I mean, really it comes down to people want things that other people want. Yeah, it's, uh, FOMO is real. And it draws value. And luxury's, luxury at the high end is a strange beast of the absolute FOMO and exclusivity and limited availability.

it's all these things wrapped into one. And sometimes the price being higher does just drive more demand and more desire. Louis Vuitton bags in my wife's closet. Kind of bring that to mind. But yeah, but he's a smart guy doing smart things with a very popular player himself. Definitely. And another hot topic in the hobby, we got grading. Obviously, Beckett, after a week and a half of being open, had to close their doors once again.

And now I've stated they're on a rolling basis, which honestly, I appreciate their transparency and their honesty. I think out of all the companies, they've been the ones that have been the most flexible, you know, and willing to kind of predictable. Doing what they say. Doing what they say. And, you know, love them, hate them, love grading, hate grading, all's indifferent. But like, what would you do in this situation? Like there is no solution to the amount of grading. And we've talked about counterfeiting and how big of an issue that's becoming.

So, I mean, they're really doing the best they can, I think personally, with the hand they're being given. No, I think, and I think the learning lesson here is it's a window and not a definitive. Like when these tiers open and they're calling it, you know, what they call it dynamic or flexible, it's going to change. You're going to have windows to get the value you in. You take it, and we did. We got like 100 cards in because I was like, Cole, we got to get them in. Cole worked his ass off, got them all in, and we took advantage of it. But it did close.

And like literally, you've got that stuff happening in windows and not definitive. So you've kind of just got to pay attention. And that's why, hey, we built the grading section that is live now on Collector Nation that has real time, what your time and cost is at each one. So go to CollectorNation.com, hit grading, search for grading. bring up that section, because they're windows, not guarantees. No, yeah, hard to keep track of for sure. Okay, so it was a big weekend for an unsuspecting player because Mr. J.J. McCarthy

got traded from the Vikings to the Giants. His card market is absolutely skyrocketing in the sense of, you know, it was already pretty low. Yeah. So that may be, I guess, a little bit of. of an overdrewmatization of it. But, you know, it's up 500% just from the snooze of a trade. Yeah.

I don't know if I called the, I've been quietly buying JJ's card the last three months. I've got some really good stuff. Because I felt like there was the only upside here. His stuff had tanked. I mean, the boys and I started back into the hobby in 24 when he was one of the hot rookies. And all those cards, a silver prism rookie card, were $100, $80 to $100 all. day. And seeing it go down to like two or three bucks, I was like, what?

I didn't even know it had gone that far. But then I was like, okay, so I started buying cabooms and downtowns and especially, because it's almost as low as it could go. I mean, yeah, if he retired or something, it could. But like, it was his, the floor was there because it was only upside. And that's kind of what it is now. And he's seeing it pop because he's gone to the Giants. He's got a great chance to just show what he can do.

because I just think no matter what Harbaugh says, you know, James is our quarterback the rest of the season. No, he's not. They have too many good players that they're not going to let. If James plays well, he will be, and he should stay if he plays well.

But so far, he's played so-so. Yeah. If he has another game or two like that, you watch, JJ will be on the field. I think the market is pricing it for that accordingly, trying to get ahead of it. So I think you either,

you either, if you're listening to this and you're looking for, you need to get in now, or you're kind of in this wait and see what happens this week, game by game a little bit. Yep. And I mean, his 2024 Panini Prism Silver Card went from $3.36 to $20.19. So I mean, again, you're talking smaller numbers. We're not in the hundreds or thousands. But still definitely an indicator of where his market could go. If he continues to get playtime, I mean, Giants got a great deal. They got a first round, like, top 20 pick for a fifth round draft pick. Yeah. Now, it's a little scary that Minnesota said, okay, that was good enough.

Yeah, I would be a little insults if I was JJ McCarthy personally. But, you know. Well, I think he's, you got to use that as fuel. Yeah. And he's either going to use, and he strikes me as a kid that would do that. What I just don't know. And anyway, he knows. And it's not, there's no knock on him if this is the case.

I personally had no ability to play in the NFL. Never even sniffed it. So he might just not be an NFL starting quarterback. And we'll see. And it's okay. But you know what? I have a sneaky suspicion that he might be a brat, you know, like San Bradford type or something. Maybe.

Could pull a Kiskeenum and have a comeback after three years. There's a good life to be made being a backup too. Yeah. So you'd be darts backup. They be boys, you know, we got starter to backup. It's okay. We'll take that gig. But I think this is a tryout for his next team.

This is a one-year deal. And James, if he doesn't play well, then he sees the field. He gets to show off for his future team or his future backup role. Exactly. And, you know, DART, it's unfortunate. He's now on IR as of September 24th. he had a one-of-one card sell for half a million dollars, ten days before that. So it's really a testament that you can't always listen to headlines and hype around a player or a team.

Because you never know. Yeah. You never know. He's been the most hype player of that class easily. And he's done some things on the field. And he looked good the first couple games. So I liked what I saw to validate that. But he has been the hype machine.

Yeah. And we actually heard from Ken Golden a couple months ago when he was on the show. And he had a really good perspective on that. They're doing what they do with friggin NFL draft pick quarterbacks. They're projecting a guy to win three Super Bowls when he before he's played a game. To me, the safest is going to be vintage, specifically the boring vintage baseball. All right, rapid fire. One behavior collector should stop immediately.

I would say FOMO. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Buying something without bankroll management. Bankroll management is so critical to this, people need to understand and need to have budgets in place before they start buying. Yeah, so, you know, we're putting these high numbers around these quarterbacks that, you know, we don't know what's going to happen. They're still playing.

So, you know, it's always a risk that you're willing to take. But, you know, you always have to be a little careful. You never know. Hey, it does. You've been into the vintage market. Yeah, exactly. Those guys can't get hurt. We've had too many hurt quarterbacks, though.

But we'll see where it goes. Lots of drama unfolding in real time in the hobby. Collector Nation is not just a podcast. We are your one-stop shop for all things, a hobby. All the best creators, all the best reels, all the best content curated for you every day. And if you're interested in learning more, go to thecollector Nation. or download our app on iOS or Android. We'll see you there.

All right, quick segment buying, holding, selling, just a couple guys that want to point out. So Brock Purdy's been impressive. Mr. Irrelevant. I don't know how he does it. I love Mr. Irrelevant. I do too. I love a good Cinderella story.

And, you know, I've been like on the fence, off the fence. I'm on the bandwagon now. I just think he is a solid, smart player. that's more athletic than you think. No, he doesn't have the strongest arm in the league. No, he might walk by you in the airport, and you might not even know who it was.

But the damn dude can play. And, you know, I watched him run like a 35, he got called back, but it was a 35 yard. And I'm like, he's kind of, he's shiftyer than I thought he was, he's quicker. Stock up, rock purdy. I'd be buying. I'd be putting some back.

I am putting some back. I mean, some of the best players are the ones that can uplift the whole team and not just carry the whole team, you know? He does. second one Kurt Cousins I've never been a huge Kurt Cousins fan

but he's got him 3 and 0 three touchdowns in every game not throwing picks like he's been prone to do at times as often I'm not saying I think he's got one or two on the season but like he had none last week I mean if you had on your bingo card

the Raiders 3 and 0 congratulations you're lying I didn't think there'd be a train wreck they've got good you know pieces in place but one of them that's not seeing the field is Mendoza, which is fascinating with where his card market is.

But I'd be buying a little Kirk Cousins. He's solidifying his place in history as a absolutely solid second tier. Like, you know, maybe not Hall of Famer, but a damn good, respected quarterback that won a lot of games, and that has value, and it's probably more than what he's worth now. Yeah, I agree. And I think it's kind of interesting that back to like headlines, like Mendoza's entire card market is truly just based on headlines.

1,000% speculation. You know there's no such thing as 1,000% by the way. But like it is. Like he has not touched the field. 100%. You can't get more than 100%. It's 100% speculation. But nonetheless.

So who are we avoiding this week? Okay. May day. May day. We got to get like on. We do. Send help fast. I don't know what's going on with Drake May.

It's not been pretty. He, uh, I, I, I, you know, I joked. I, he's, he's married. Like, home life must be bad or something. I don't know because it doesn't really make, because the dude's talented. For the record, I believe in Drake May. I like Drake May.

I hold several big Drake May cards. I'm not selling them because I believe in them, but there's no doubt. And I wouldn't fault anyone for, uh, running for the hills a little bit. Yeah. Selling off a little bit because one game, okay, bad game. World champs they played two games.

Okay. Now three. And then you got Buffalo coming up? Good look. It's going to be tough. Yeah. Josh Allen's for sure going to give him a run for his money. We'll see how it goes with the rest of the season.

But, you know, like your favorite player, Mr. Trevor Lawrence, he had a rough few seasons there at the beginning in the NFL. And he came back, so you know, you never know. Maybe Drake May will have a resurgence. There's always time. But I don't blame people either for selling him as well. Yes. And what were your thoughts on Case Keenum this week with the Bears versus the Eagles?

I loved it. Feel good story. He made our pick right, which was Bears to cover. We had the Bears thought the Eagles would win. I think most people thought Eagles win, but most people thought they win by four or more points. Yeah. But a great story, gamer. I think he was always kind of called that anyway and hadn't played in three years.

I mean, he was throwing some passes. This was not what I would. Yes, he was, you could say game manager. This was not game manager throws he was making. No. Ben Johnson, and let me just say this, Ben Johnson is, the Eagles daddy. They might,

they need to get t-shirts made. It's like Ben Johnson's, you know, the Eagles daddy because he knows how to scheme up that defense. That defense is nasty. They've got some of the best players in the league on Philly, scheming them up and had Case Keenham. But Kate Keenham was putting some darts in there,

like in tight covers a couple of times. I don't know, man. I watched, it was some of the highlights for replaying. I watched the whole game live. And I was like, that was not game management type play.

The Eagles kind of got smacked in the face a little bit. No, they did. They thought you didn't expect Case Keenan to be that sharp. No. I didn't have it. Truthly, I didn't watch the game live and I looked at the score up the next day. And I audibly gasped. I was like, wait, how did that happen?

But, you know, it makes for a good story again. So I'm here for it and I'm excited for him. And moving on. So, yeah. Yesterday, Wednesday, was release day for Bowman football. They are back with the licenses. Personally, one of my favorite looking products that Tops has come out with. You just think it's pretty.

I do. I do think it is pretty. Matches your shirt, too. Yeah, yeah. I am. I did that on purpose. Color coordinated. I did that on purpose.

So we can do a little quick pack battle here. While you're open that, I'll drop. I did do a review up on the culturenation.com and the app. You can look for that. review, there's a video. You know, if you've watched, you know, pack opening review videos, you know what you're getting into.

I think we try to make it a little different. It's back in the, the Chase Lounge. You have to, there's a certain pathway to get there. So enjoy the intro there. Enjoy it. Yeah.

Okay. The. I'm giving you those three. Yeah. These three are mine. Right. Let's see. Who can win?

I'll let you go first. All right. Josh Allen anime? No, we got a Jared Goff. Speckle. I don't know my parallels. Truthfully, I was looking up all the parallels in the cards. And I don't know who decided the names of some of these,

but they do not add up to what they should be called. That looks like a speckle. That one's fine. But like some of them, I'm like I would have no idea what that was. Let's see what I got. What is a mojo? I don't know. You lost your mojo.

Oh. Oh, we got a pink. That may get an on-card auto, which, or not on-card, sticker auto, maybe. I don't know. It's a you. Let's see, let's see.

Nope. Numbered to 250 though. Raylan Staley. I think he was the SEC freshman of the year last year. Yes, he was. Like a you. Numbered. Paper.

on a Chrome. All right. Pack number two for me. Get through the base. Oh, we got a greatness loading insert. Oh, 150. Number. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

20 out of 150. Okay. Mansor. Mansour. Oh, Mansour. Sorry. You have to say it that way. Okay.

Granted, like, the way that they have a... Mansoor. Yeah, Mansour. Pretty, pretty nice. insert. Oh, that's dope. So currently, I'm winning. What are you talking about?

This guy's the SEC player. Well, I meant by number. Oh, yeah. You're at 250. I'm at 150. Your card looks cooler. I'll give you that. Yeah.

I think my I've got the better player. Okay. Pack number two. I still give you the win. This is better than my hobby box. I don't know. I have to redo my grade if they're all going to be like this. Oh, is that Garrett?

No, Smire. Oh, I take it back. And he's. And I think it's a cool insert. Yeah. Rockstar insert. Are we going to get Arch Manning? I've yet to see a siding.

I've opened enough. I haven't even seen any base, Arch Manning. No. Cade Clubnick. Okay. Um, oh. Kwan Lacey. Oh, yeah, he's good.

Is that a refractor or just a, so a chrome? Um, just a chrome. So cool. He's pretty good at the brown ball. I guess it's sort of not round ball, whatever you call. All right. Your last bet. I like this card a lot.

Look at that. Wow. You didn't get to open it. But mine's pink. I know. I kind of wish I. I, kind of wish I didn't have to. Tinder appropriate here.

All right. Let's see where we finish here. Yeah, this is like Peptoe is small pink. Come on. Arch Manning. Oh, we have color again. That's to 99. Man, this has been a crazy.

Crazy opening here. Yeah. Mansoor. Another. Caleb Downs. Pretty good, too. Okay, Hughes. Uh, uh, uh, upside down.

This guy. Oh, on the back. Oh, verified. Verified. Yeah. A better, a better version of Lacey. That would be, yes. That actually has a refraction in it.

You see that? See, refractor? Okay. All right, green. Let's see what we got. Nebraska. No, to 99. Oh, an auto.

Autograph. Oh, winner, winner chicken dinner. Damn. What's this guy? Is this? Daniel, okay. He's the quarterback, too. I mean, he's got to be good, right?

99, 12. And a night. Jersey match on the auto. 12 of 12. Damn. I mean, it was a win, but that was like dirt on top of it. Like, I just threw dirt back on top of it. Damn it.

I was so close. Slam dunk victory. I was so close. Jersey match, 12 out of 99. And Daniel Kalin, he better be like the sleeper of all sleepers. But we'll take that. Yeah.

So make sure to like, follow, comment. I take it back. It's a 7.1. Not 4.1. It's a 7.1. Make sure to follow like and comment over on YouTube. Hate that. Or go download our app,

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