To really answer the question, we need to look at what the NFL looks for in a NFL quaterback. This year we have two shining stars at rookie quaterback, Matt Ryan (QB Atlanta Falcons) and Jow Flacco (QB Baltimore Ravens). Both of these quaterbacks exhibit early in their career characteristics that make them look like great NFL QBs for years to come. What do each of these players have as common characteristics: great arm strength, accuracy, size, intelligence, ran a similar system in college as the pros.

So using these items as our baseline lets look at Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford.

Tim Tebow has a huge athlete, physically he is similar in size to a Vince Young. He has a big arm and can throw the ball with great arm strength. He is a very smart QB in college, understanding when to scramble and make plays with his feet and when to throw deep. Accuracy is in question as Florida runs an option offense in college. To sum it up Tim Tebow looks like Vince Young in college, a big mobile quaterback who can make plays with both arm and feet. The trouble is the NFL is not kind ot big mobile QBs, the punishment running QBs take puts most of them out of the league very quickly. See Vince Young, and Michael Vick. If Tebow can make an adjustment like Donovan Mcnabb did going to the NFL he could have a great career, but he needs to stay one more year and develop his passing accuracy.

Looking next at Sam Bradford. Bradford ran the spread offense in college which requires the ball to be thrown an inordinate amount of time. Bradford is slightly undersized for the pro game, however he has good arm strength and great accuracy. Bradford is sneaky mobile and is very smart with the football. The problem is the spread offense never translates into the pro game. The pro game the QB is under center and the spread is in the shotgun all the time. This difference is usually too big to overcome for most college QBs. See Andre Ware and Geno Toretta as examples. Bradford will need to test out very well in the combine to have a solid chance in the NFL.

Either way both are great college QBs and very entertaining to watch. My estimate is neither will be good pros. It is a rare individual that makes a great NFL QB, that is why so little exist in the league today.

This year their are several key rookie players in the 2008 NFL playoffs that could make a significant contribution to their teams success. Here are the players that can make a huge difference this year in the playoff race.

1) Matt Ryan, QB Atlanta Falcons. The current offensive rookie player of a year. A player that has looked like a veteran of several years, more than a rookie this year. His first year numbers are matched only by quaterbacks of the like of Dan Marino and Peyton Manning. I think the Falcons rely too much on Ryan as their main offensive weapon and you will see him struggle under the magnifying glass of the NFL playoffs. If the Falcons can keep Michael Turner involved in the game, look for Ryan to have a huge game. This QB is a superstar on the rise and will surely have a ton of impact in the future.

2) Joe Flacco, QB Baltimore Ravens. Played second fiddle to Ryan throughout the year as a rookie quaterback, but has a chance to do much more in the playoffs. Flacco is in a perfect situation to succeed in the playoffs - a good running game and a great defense to fall back on. The Ravens will not likely put Flacco in a situation where he has to win the game as the main weapon.

3) Chris Johnson, RB Tennesse Titan. An explosive running back with unbelievable breakaway speed. With the combination of Lendale White and Johnson the Titans scored rushing touchdowns at will throughout the season. Rookie running backs have had a tremendous impact in previous playoff years and I would suspect that it may be the same here. Johnson can catch as well as run, making him a real dual threat out of the backfield.

4) Jonathan Stewart, RB Carolina Panthers. DeAngelo Williams gathered much of the headlines this year scoring 18tds, but Stewart is a big bruising running back that can change the face of a playoff game. His talent alone could account for much of the success of the Panthers this year.

Look for these rookies to make a significant impact in this years playoffs. Watch them closely, because those that have big post seasons will see their rookie card value rise significantly. Look for my next post that will outline some of the defensive rookies and other rookies that could make a difference this year.

One of the best ways to look at what cards are hot is to look at ebay and some of the related tools that help analyze ebay trends. When looking at Ebay and the trend over the last 2 weeks the highest priced cards on the list are auto rookie cards. Some of the selected cards that are going for very high prices include: Matt Forte, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco and Darrin McFadden. The auto rookie cards of these future NFL superstars are already going for values greater than $200.

If we use the terapeak analyzer of items being sold on ebay. Using the term 2008 Rookie Football Card. We can see that in the last 7 days, over 260 items were listed on ebay with over 130 of those items selling. These items fetched an average price of over $19.00 per item sold on ebay. Of the sets of rookie cards being sold the: 2008 UD SP Rookie Edition NFL Football Sealed Hobby Box is the most popular set being sold this year.

If you are considering this hobby as an investment opportunity use these tools often to get a general pulse of what the trading community is buying and selling.

Donruss most popular line of cards is the Playoff Contenders football set. The Playoff Contender Football set is one of the most unique football sets in the industry today. The set features cards on a unique interface that looks a lot like actual football tickets. Donruss Football Cards has produced this popular set for half a decade and it continues to lead the industry. The 2008 Playoff Contender set features 100 season tickets, 125 rookie tickets, 225 playoff tickets, 100 championship tickets and most importantly rookie of the year contenders. The athunticated autographed tickets are the most sought after tickets of the bunch. This is without a doubt a great edition to the trading card industry.

This years rookie class features, future superstars Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and many other.

However, the rookie football cards of today are worth every bit as much as the rookie baseball cards. The superstars like Tom Brady, Ladanian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson and the rising superstar Matt Ryan are some of the highest value rookie cards on the market today. If you are collecting cards to appreciate in value it only stands to reason that the most popular league in all of sports the NFL would have the highest price rookie cards. Every year the NFL produces several new superstars that all have phenominal rookie cards including autograph cards and jersey cards. In a world where most investments are doing poorly the investment in a great hobby can hae great financial reward as well.

The NFL has launched the career of a potential superstar and hall of fame player. Matt Ryan, quaterback of the Atlanta Falcons has quickly become a NFL darling of the class of 2008. In about half a season he has compiled some amazing statistics. He has 9 tds and over 1600 yards in his initial campaign in the NFL.

Compare these statistics with the Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway. In Elway's first campaign he has 7tds and 1600 yards for the entire year. It is clear, Matt Ryan is holding himself in great company. What is more impressive about this is that the Falcons were an awful team last year and the addition of Ryan and Michael Turner now gives the Falcons and outside shot at the playoffs.

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MATT RYAN 2008 SP ROOKIE THREADS JERSEY 52 175 RSSMR SUPER SWATCH BLU PSA 10    US $49.99

2008 Bowman Chrome Matt Ryan BC59 Rookie RC PSA GEM MINT 10    US $24.99