Rookie Football Card Shop » Minnesota Vikings

Larry Fitzgerald Rookie Card

twincitiesvalue — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:14:30 +0000

For the Madden 10 aficionados, there may be another item with Larry Fitzgerald’s likeness printed on it that may be worth investing in. That is the Larry Fitzgerald Rookie Card.

2004 Topps Rookie Premiere RC Auto Larry Fitzgerald
US $189.78

LARRY FITZGERALD 2004 Reflections 147 No Auto TRUE SP RC 220 450 Cardinals
US $14.99

2004 SPX Rookie Auto Jersey Larry Fitzgerald 58 100
US $249.78

The University of Pittsburgh product is one of the most physical receivers in the league, where he may punish the opposition for yards after the catch and will never back down against the most physical cornerbacks in the NFL. In addition to his presence at 6’3 and over 215 pounds, Fitzgerald has breakaway speed and excellent hands. Most recently he was able to help the Arizona Cardinals to a wild-card weekend victory over the Green Bay Packers, where he caught 6 catches for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns despite being covered by the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, Charles Woodson for most of the night.

If Larry Fitzgerald presents a match-up problem for the best defensive player in the league, then you can imagine just how effective of a career this receiver has. Some experts had seen it coming all along. Former Cardinals Head Coach Dennis Green had known Fitzgerald from his days as a Minnesota Vikings ball boy, but since committing to D-III Gustavus Adolphus College, Fitzgerald made the switch to Pitt, and has grown into one of the best wide receivers on the planet.

Decorated throughout college and so far in the NFL, Fitzgerald was recognized as the best player in college football after his 2nd season at Pittsburgh, being handed the Walter Camp Award. After barely losing to Oklahoma Sooner bust Jason White, Fitzgerald chose to make the leap to the NFL and has never looked back.

He has already made a visit to the NFL Pro Bowl game 4 times in his career, including being named the MVP of the 2009 Pro-Bowl game.

Prior to the Pro-Bowl, Fitzgerald was instrumental in the 2009 playoffs, where he broke Jerry Rice’s playoff records for receptions, yards, and touchdowns in the playoffs. He grabbed the potential game-winning touchdown pass, before Pittsburgh came back to win in the games final moments.

While the emergence of Fitzgerald has been helped by being lined up with another Pro-Bowl caliber wide-out in Anquan Boldin, there is no doubt that Fitzgerald will continue to thrive in the Arizona Cardinals offense even if Boldin is lost to free-agency. Even without Boldin in the playoff game against the Packers, Fitzgerald picked up the slack and helped the Cardinals rack up a record number of points against Green Bay’s #2 ranked defense.

The Larry Fitzgerald Rookie Card is a rare commodity, but possibly the best card of all wide-receivers based on Fitzgerald’s accomplished career. He has already carried his team to an NFC Championship, and hopes to continue to be a dominant force in the NFL for many years to come.

Adrian Peterson Rookie Card

twincitiesvalue — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:41:45 +0000

Adrian Peterson’s rookie card might be one of the most valuable rookie cards, based on how dominant his rookie season was by itself.

Adrian Peterson 2007 Topps Triple Threads 3 Jersey Rookie Card RC Auto Color 99
US $299.99

Adrian Peterson 2007 Topps Finest Green XFractor Rookie Card Auto 08 25 BGS 95
US $799.99

ADRIAN PETERSON ROOKIE CARD 23K GOLD MERRICK MINT LASER LINE PSA 9 HOLO AUTO
US $19.99

When a prodigy comes out of college that has all of the physical tools of the greatest NFL running backs, it is easy to dissect his running style and make comparisons. For Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, he just might be the running back that sets the standard for all future running backs to be measured.

The former Oklahoma Sooner entered the NFL in 2007 with unlimited expectations. The only question surrounding Peterson was how his body would hold up after suffering from injury problems in college.

So far, so good.

Peterson’s rookie season showed him wasting no time, as he dominated opponents on his way to 1341 rushing yards and winning the NFL’s Rookie of the Year Award. Amazingly enough, he cruised to over 1300 yards while still missing time due to an injury suffered in the Vikings shut out loss to the Green Bay Packers.

His decorated rookie seasons included him breaking the NFL record for most rushing yards in a single game, as he racked up 296 yards on 20 carries against the San Diego Chargers. This performance led many to believe they were viewing greatness, and the comparisons started to flood in. The punishing and powerful style of running by Earl Campbell, the elusive and low running style of Barry Sanders, the speed of Eric Dickerson.

The scary thing? All of these components combined into one player.

Adrian Peterson followed that rookie season by gaining 1,760 yards in his sophomore campaign. Forget the sophomore slump, Peterson became the focal point of the Vikings offense as he led his team into the playoffs.

In 2009, the Vikings offense had somewhat of a makeover as Brett Favre took over the reigns at quarterback, shifting much of the attention to the Vikings passing game. As a result, Peterson flourished in the category that matters the most, touchdowns. Peterson led the NFL in 2009 with 18 touchdowns in spite of his total carries being reduced significantly, 49 less than the 2008 season.

But his touchdown total shows just how balanced, and versatile of a player Peterson has become. Adrian Petersons Rookie Card is sure to grow in value as Peterson continues to mature. In the 2010 NFC Championship game, Peterson scored 3 touchdowns, but also managed to lose 2 fumbles. He will continue to grow, but already having the title of “rookie of the year” makes this card even stronger.

Impact of NFL drug suspensions

twincitiesvalue — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:19:45 +0000

In a not so suprizing move the NFL handed out suspensions yesterday to Deuce McCallister of the New Orleans Saints, Kevin and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings. Each of the players will serve a 4 game suspension for the infraction against the NFL drug policy. All of these players were caught using a banned diaretic from the NFL that is supposed to help athletes lose weight.

The impact of this is large for two NFL teams trying to make the playoffs. In the case of the Minnesota Vikings, they lose their two interior linemen on the top rated run defense in the NFL. This greatly reduced the ability of the Vikings to stop the run on defense. In the case of the New Orleans Saints, they lose their goalline back and a running back that has been productive for many years. The infraction seems extremely harsh since Matt Jones (WR Jacksonville) is still playing despite getting caught with cocaine.

These suspensions can greatly change a players career and then in turn affect their rookie card value. Look at a Michael Irvin, once he got caught with cocaine his stock as a player fell despite being elected to the hall of fame. Pay close attention to these types of infractions when buying cards as they usually have a very detrimental impact to their overall value.

Why I Started Card Collecting?

twincitiesvalue — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:22:17 +0000

The reason I started card collecting back in the 1970's was pretty simple. Having cards of the great players was a cool thing to do. I always collected more football cards than baseball cards and at the time the really cool rookie football cards to own were Franco Harris , Walter Payton and of course any Minnesota Vikings card (because I live in Minnesota).

As a kid, we use to trade cards and talk about who was going to have a great year and who was better. I remember riding my bike down to the store every saturday to buy a pack of cards hoping to get a card of my favorite players. In the end it became a hobby that I have continued in for all of these years. The cards today are of higher quality and have much better graphics that the old cards. All of the cards have gone up in value significantly since then, but it still remains as a great hobby and way to have some fun while following your favorite football teams.