Hobby Musings: Cowboys’ Star Rookies Ready for Playoff Test – It’s no secret that Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott have dominated the 2016 NFL rookie class both on the field and in the hobby. The Cowboys’ rookie duo has helped to make for a vibrant 2016 football trading card market. With the recent release of Contenders and Flawless later in the year, there are no signs of it slowing down.
With the two young stars set to make their postseason debut, I had the chance to catch up via email with long-time hobby professional and current Dallas-Fort Worth area show promoter Rich Klein about what Elliott and Prescott have meant for the card world.
KS: What kind of demand have you seen for Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott’s cards as the season has progressed?
RK: There is no doubt the interest has grown in both players. Elliott started a bit earlier because of his No. 4 
overall draft pick status and the vaunted Dallas O-Line which was “guaranteed” to make him a 1,000-yard rusher as a rookie. Needless to say, he did even better and led the NFL. In most years, a season such as that would let the player explode in his home area.
However, beginning with Prescott’s amazing preseason play, in which he made all the games look easy, and continue to crescendo to today, he has even usurped Elliott. As an FYI, I carry all the Beckett publications and always order extra copies if a local DFW player is on the cover. I will state the Elliott cover is a fantasy football magazine and the Prescott cover is a football monthly price guide. I sell all the publications at the same price. I am totally sold out of the Beckett Prescott monthly cover and still have some Elliott covers left.
KS: Out of the two of them, who do you think has been more popular among collectors?
RK: Both are very popular but as of today, I’d give the edge to Prescott based on QB better than RB. This is very unscientific, but I also see more people wearing Prescott items than I do wearing Elliott items and that is by a wide margin
KS: The Cowboys are such a beloved franchise in Texas steeped in tradition with a long list of Hall of Fame players. Has the popularity of the two and this year’s team had any effect on the demand for older Dallas items?
RK: Frankly, any time I get old Cowboys cards at reasonable prices (Less than $10 for most 60’s and 70’s players, they go flying out as quickly as I get them in. The only Cowboys cards I have of the older players which sit for a while are those which are $20 and up. However, any card of Roger Staubach from his playing career goes out almost as quickly as I get them in. Dorsett’s RC is always very popular as well. The stopping point is about 1980-81, which is just about when Staubach ended his career and more football cards were being produced by Topps.
KS: How do you think the hobby fever for the two of them has compared to recent NFL rookie classes?
RK: When I was at Beckett, Ben Roethlisberger had the amazing winning streak and therefore catapulted the rookie class to the best since Manning and Moss in 1998. Prescott and Elliott will lead this class now and going forward to be as good, if not better, as the 2004 class and the Luck/RG 3 class of a few years back.
KS: With the Cowboys set for their first playoff game this season, how do you think the demand for the 
two will be affected by a deep Dallas playoff run or even a Super Bowl?
RK: As a show promoter in the DFW area, nothing could be better than a Super Bowl victory. This reminds me of 1991, when the Cowboys were coming out of their funk and looked as if, which did occur, to be a dominant team for the next few seasons. All the pieces for a repeat are in place, including the skill position players (Prescott, Elliott, Bryant as compared to Aikman, Smith and Irvin) and even the beloved tight end(Jason Witten today, Jay Novacek then). Today’s O-Line is as good as the 1991 O-Line. The similarities are there. And as long as the Cowboys do OK or better in the playoffs (just as in 1991), then there should be no off-season drop-off in demand.
KS: Panini recently released Contenders and will have Flawless coming out later in the year. What kind of demand are you expecting for Flawless based on Prescott and Elliott’s high-end cards?
RK: Their better cards are already flying out on eBay at very strong prices. One of my dealers got a high grade, low serial number (I think it was out of 25) autograph card of Prescott about two months ago. He walked around a show and was unable to get $650 from the dealers. Two days later he sold the card on eBay for more than $900. I think we’ll see cards for autographs serial numbered of 1 offered for thousands of dollars on eBay.
KS: Is there anything you think could stem the demand for their cards?
RK: Career-ending injuries. Other than that, they both did enough in the regular season to be forgiven for any bad playoff games.
KS: I’ll get you out of here on this. If there was someone who was looking to start a collection of Prescott and Elliott on a budget, what types of cards would you recommend to them?
RK: The old line about collecting runs even truer on this question. Buy the best card you can afford. If you only have a couple of dollars buy the base rookie cards of the lowest-end products. If you have a few dollars buy the best mid-level cards you can afford and if you have no budgetary issues then buy the highest end card you can afford. I’d also, if the card was signed, see if you can purchase the card in either a BGS, PSA or SGC holder. That guarantees that another party has looked at the certified autograph and guarantees the card is authentic. In addition, I’d also look for other cards graded by the big three which might be reasonably priced.
Hobby Musings: Cowboys’ Star Rookies Ready for Playoff Test
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