NFL Draft 2025 Big Board: Rating five most collectible players

The 2025 NFL Draft starts Thursday night in Green Bay.

That means, it’s time for mock drafts, big boards and countless projections about which prospects are headed where.

At cllct, we’re no different, and our 2025 Big Board is here. However, we’re rating the players by their collectible potential. These five players have the best chance of becoming memorabilia mainstays:

1. Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado

Sanders has been a polarizing player for casual fans and hobbyists alike.

There’s no denying his extreme popularity. Sanders and his Hall of Fame father, Deion, helped make the Colorado Buffaloes among the most covered teams in all of college football over the last two seasons.

The on-field results have been largely mixed, however.

Colorado was just 13-12 with Sanders as the starting quarterback over the last two seasons despite his elite arm talent. Interest in Sanders at the top of the draft also seems to have waned in recent weeks, and now it’s far less clear where he could land.

It’s important to remember, however, that draft position and on-field results don’t always determine a player’s collectible fate the way one might think.

Poor play is never helpful, but collectors love to chase high-risk, high-reward opportunities, and Sanders’ play seems to have a high ceiling. His pop culture relevance might give him a higher floor than most, too.

One area of concern for Sanders, despite landing atop our big board, is the fact he hasn’t delivered impressive secondary-market sales so far.

No, his college cards won’t be popular long-term, but there’s enough recent evidence with stars such as Cooper Flagg and Paige Bueckers that collectors still covet whatever is available until something better comes along.

To date, the public record for any Sanders card, according to Card Ladder, is the $5,321 paid for his 2023 Bowman University Chrome Prospect Superfractor Autograph 1/1 in December 2024.

Compared to record sales for Flagg ($85,400) and Bueckers ($15,500), that price seems uninspiring.

It’s also hard to feel confident in his market when the top three sales for Sanders are just instances of that card being flipped for small profits in September, November and eventually December 2024.

Sanders has more collectible upside than any other player in this draft, but his success among hobbyists is far from guaranteed.

2. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

The quarterback position might be the undisputed king of football card collecting, but the game’s most elite stars at other positions can develop robust markets, too.

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, for example, is 11th in total card sales among football players tracked by Market Movers over the last 365 days with more than 38,000.

Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson isn’t far behind with nearly 35,000 sales.

Of the non-quarterbacks in this class, Jeanty might have the best chance at matching the success of top-tier backs such as Gibbs and Robinson among collectors.

Hobbyists, much like NFL teams, are extremely cautious when investing their time and money into running backs. Even the best backs can have short careers, so they need to be as dynamic as possible to win over collectors.

Jeanty is exceptionally talented, but he’s also enticing as a potential collectible star because of his ability to make an immediate impact.

The incoming class of quarterbacks will always be among the favorites for regular-season awards, but it’s not hard to see Jeanty exploding through tackles en route to an Offensive Rookie of the Year award months from now.

Jeanty will face an uphill battle among collectors due to his position, but there’s enough evidence with current star running backs — Gibbs, Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and others — he could be a fan-favorite regardless.

The $8,540 sale for his 2024 Bowman University Chrome Prospect Superfractor Autograph 1/1 at Goldin in March shows early signs of collector interest for his high-end market, and the more than 3,700 total sales tracked by Market Movers over the last year, despite a limited lineup of available cards, shows potential strength at the low end.

Jeanty could easily be overshadowed by strong play from the draft’s top quarterbacks, but don’t be surprised if fans are drawn to the poetic simplicity of running through someone’s face.

3. Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado

Like Sanders, Hunter greatly benefited from unnaturally high media exposure, playing for Coach Prime and Colorado over the last two years.

Hunter more than delivered on the field, however, and a historic collection of awards puts him in a unique position heading into the NFL.

Hunter’s immaculate two-way play, which resulted in the Heisman Trophy, Bednarik, Biletnikoff and Walter Camp awards in 2024, makes him a one-of-a-kind prospect, but it could also deliver a terrifyingly-low collectible floor.

It’s currently unclear which side of the ball he’ll play most in the NFL, but the unfortunate reality is Hunter’s collectibility might be determined by him becoming far more than the sum of his parts.

Maybe Hunter is a top-tier cornerback — corners aren’t inspiring to collectors and, with only a few exceptions, aren’t extremely collectible.

Top-tier receivers, such as Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase, have become popular among collectors during the ultra-modern era, but typically don’t match secondary-market success seen by many quarterbacks.

For Hunter, the key will be leveraging his pop-culture relevance to be a great football player more so than a great cornerback, receiver or both.

So far, Hunter’s record card sale at public auction is $12,000, and the nearly 5,000 total sales tracked by Market Movers over the last year shows interest at the lower end.

Truthfully, Hunter will have to be something no one else has ever been to overcome current collectible sentiment. However, he has been exactly that on the field already, so maybe we shouldn’t bet against anything different.

4. Cam Ward, QB, Miami

Ward is the overwhelming favorite to be selected No. 1 overall by the Tennessee Titans, but that could be viewed as more of a curse than a gift by some collectors.

Sure, Ward, by default, will be among the most collected players when his first flagship trading cards arrive because of where he’ll be selected, but the hobby will take into consideration how healthy his situation is before investing heavily.

Tennessee has had three straight losing seasons after finishing just 3-14 last season and is desperately trying to find a franchise quarterback after flopping with Will Levis and Malik Willis.

To some collectors, Ward might be the best QB in this class, but he might not be a strong enough talent to completely turn around a franchise. The Titans will make a series of complimentary moves to turn the team around.

Tennessee also isn’t one of the league’s premier franchises, so Ward will need to deliver on the field before his games are regularly flexed into high-valued time slots. Based on their overall popularity, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the NFL opt to place a Sanders game in a prime-time slot rather than the top overall pick.

A $5,185 sale for Ward’s 2024 Bowman University Chrome The National Superfractor at Goldin in November 2024 is solid but not stunning.

Ward will always have the benefit of being the No. 1 pick — if that’s how things play out — but collectors are always cautious of top players heading to bad teams.

5. Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State

On the field, Carter is widely considered, at worst, one of the top handful of prospects in the 2025 draft.

Positional need likely results in Carter falling beyond the top overall pick, but he has the physical tools to immediately be a disruptive pass rusher that can completely wreck game plans.

There’s little doubt Carter will be an impact player, but general collector sentiment toward defensive players makes it difficult to gauge his overall collectibility.

Frankly, defensive players — even the game’s best — are rarely collectible and it takes a transcendent talent to buck that trend.

Is Carter that? To be determined.

Some collectors have pushed for defensive players to get more respect in the hobby in recent years, but it’s hard to see any legitimate impact.

Carter lands on our big board here because, for better or for worse, the rest of the field isn’t terribly inspiring.

Historic precedent tells us only a handful of players from each class, at most, maintain collectible relevance long-term, but it’s not impossible for a top-tier defender to deliver.

Aaron Donald has had multiple $20,000-plus card sales on the secondary market while T.J. Watt’s current public record, according to Card Ladder, is $8,100.

Those prices aren’t record-breakers, but they are impressive when stacked up to most players.

So far, Carter hasn’t had true flagship releases, with his current lineup of cards limited to brands such as Sage and ONIT.

Maybe that results in collectors showing more interest in his first key rookies wherever they land.

There’s also the chance interest in Hunter helps shed some of the negative sentiment toward defensive players, and Carter becomes a beneficiary at an even more exciting position.

Defensive players aren’t hobby stars, but when collectors have shown interest, it’s often been with the game’s top pass rushers, and Carter appears poised to be exactly that.

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.