10 Football Cards Every '90s Kid Should Own

Sports card collecting surged in popularity in 2020, with people around the country and around the world enduring stay-at-home orders and searching for hobbies and nostalgia to help pass the time.

I was among the many who dusted off the card collection that had been in my old bedroom closet at my parents' house for more than a decade, diving headfirst back into the hobby in the process.

Regardless of whether you're also a '90s kid thinking of getting back into card collecting or you're starting for the first time, where should you begin? Here, we've selected 10 football cards that every 1990s kid should own to help serve as a snapshot.

While many of these cards are actually from the 1980s, the focus was on players who were at their peak in the 1990s. Each of these selections fits that general theme. 

You Might Also Like: 10 Baseball Cards Every '90s Kid Should Own

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Raw: $50
PSA 9: $500
PSA 10: $7,100

A three-year starter at Stanford who threw for 3,242 yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior, John Elway was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts. However, he expressed his unwillingness to play with the Colts prior to the draft, and they ultimately traded him to the Denver Broncos less than two weeks after selecting him.

Elway took his lumps as a rookie, but went 12-2 as a starter in his second year, and his career took off from there. He ranks in the top 15 all-time in passing yards (51,475, 11th) and passing touchdowns (300, 13th), won NFL MVP in 1987, earned nine Pro Bowl selections, took the Broncos to five Super Bowls, and won back-to-back titles to close out his playing career.

Topps was the only game in town in 1984 when Elway's rookie card was released, so that card is an easy choice for anyone who was a fan of his game throughout his 16-year Hall of Fame career.

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Raw: $40
PSA 9: $400
PSA 10: $4,500

During the same 1983 NFL draft in which the Baltimore Colts selected John Elway with the No. 1 overall pick, five other quarterbacks were taken in the first round. Following Elway were Todd Blackledge (Kansas City Chiefs), Jim Kelly (Buffalo Bills), Tony Eason (New England Patriots), Ken O'Brien (New York Jets) and Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins).

Marino, the No. 27 overall selection out of the University of Pittsburgh, would go on to have one of the most storied passing careers in NFL history. In doing so, he emerged as one of the faces of the sport during the 1990s.

When he retired, Marino was the NFL's all-time leader in completions (4,967), attempts (8,358), passing yards (61,361) and passing touchdowns (420).  

Just like Elway, he only has one rookie card, and it's a must-own for anyone getting back into collecting or looking to expand their collection to include some retired greats.

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Raw: $75
PSA 9: $2,500
PSA 10: $80,000

Jerry Rice is the undisputed GOAT when it comes to wide receivers, and his popularity has endured well beyond the conclusion of his playing career.

Even though the NFL has become more pass-oriented since he retired, Rice is still the league's all-time leader in receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895) and receiving touchdowns (197). He accomplished those feats with a style and flair that made him one of the most beloved players in the sport.

His lone rookie card is in the 1986 Topps set, and high-grade copies are extremely difficult to find. There have been a whopping 24,552 copies of the card submitted to PSA for grading, and from that massive sample size, fewer than 5 percent have come back PSA 9 (1,037) and PSA 10 (59).

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Raw: $10
PSA 9: $225
PSA 10: $3,500

The same 1986 Topps set that contains Jerry Rice's rookie card also has the rookie cards of Steve Young, Reggie White, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, Boomer Esiason, Bernie Kosar and William "Refrigerator" Perry.

Those are all excellent additions to any collection, but we're going to focus on one of the defensive superstars of the 1990s in White.

Splitting his career between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, White recorded 198 sacks, second only to Bruce Smith (200) since it became an official stat in 1982. Along the way, he won Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1987 and 1998, and he was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-1980s and All-1990s teams.

His card doesn't fetch the same premium that the Rice card does, but it's just as difficult to find in gem mint condition, with only 41 of the 4,227 submitted to PSA coming back with a 10 grade.

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Raw: $12
PSA 9: $100
PSA 10: $1,100

Bo Jackson's popularity during the late '80s and early '90s transcended sports. Even though his football career was over after the 1990 season, his enduring legacy makes him an obvious inclusion on this list of 1990s stars.

While Jackson's baseball rookie cards are featured in 1987 products, his first football card didn't come until the following year. He rushed for 554 yards and four touchdowns to finish second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting during the 1987 campaign, and he found his way into the Topps flagship set the following season.

Aside from his true rookie card, Jackson was also pictured on the Raiders team checklist (#325), giving collectors a second early card to chase from the 1988 Topps set. There is no shortage of PSA 9 (3,098) options on the market, though the PSA 10 (538) still commands a premium.

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Raw: $35
PSA 9: $150
PSA 10: $1,600

After Barry Sanders won the 1988 Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma State, the Detroit Lions took him with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1989 NFL draft. He hit the ground running in 1989 with 1,470 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and earn first-team All-Pro honors.

In 10 NFL seasons, Sanders was a 10-time Pro-Bowler, a six-time All-Pro, and he won MVP in 1997 when he rushed for 2,053 yards and scored 14 total touchdowns. He called it quits after his age-30 season, but his decade in the league was more than enough to carve out his legacy as one of the greatest of all time.

Sanders has rookie cards in the 1989 Pro Set, 1989 Score and 1989 Topps Traded sets, but his Score rookie with a simple headshot is the most sought-after of the trio. A staggering 22,717 have been submitted to PSA, with plenty of PSA 9 (8,781) and PSA 10 (1,975) in circulation.

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Raw: $5
PSA 9: $40
PSA 10: $130

Was there a cooler player in the 1990s than Deion "Prime Time" Sanders?

Before he suited up for the Dallas Cowboys, Sanders spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons, who selected him No. 5 overall in the 1989 NFL draft out of Florida State.

He had five interceptions and a punt return touchdown as a rookie, and he went on to rack up 53 interceptions and 22 total touchdowns during his career. He found the end zone via interception (nine), fumble recovery (one), kick return (three), punt return (six), and pass reception as a wide receiver (three).

Sanders' football rookie cards are featured in the 1989 Pro Set, 1989 Score and 1989 Topps Traded sets. None are particularly valuable, but the Topps Traded card is a great shot of him fielding a kick return.

The fact that he was featured in the 1989 Topps Traded set for both baseball and football is also an interesting wrinkle to his early cards.

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Raw: $55
PSA 9: $160
PSA 10: $1,500

After a 1-15 season in 1989, the Dallas Cowboys selected Emmitt Smith with the No. 17 pick in the 1990 NFL draft. He ran for 937 yards and 11 touchdowns in his debut NFL season to win 1990 Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and earn a trip to the Pro Bowl.

That exciting debut for a high-profile franchise made Smith a hot commodity in the trading card world. His 1990 Score Supplemental rookie card was a juggernaut when it first hit the market.

Despite the mass overproduction of the set, high-grade versions still fetch a pretty penny. Even clean raw copies regularly sell for over $50.

The NFL's all-time leading rusher also has significantly more affordable rookie cards in the 1990 Action Packed, 1990 Fleer Update, 1990 Pro Set and 1990 Topps Traded sets.

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Raw: $20
PSA 9: $75
PSA 10: $375

Brett Favre showed enough raw ability during his four years at Southern Mississippi for the Atlanta Falcons to select him with the No. 33 overall pick in the 1991 NFL draft. But he sat behind Pro Bowl quarterback Chris Miller and Billy Joe Tolliver as a rookie, going 0-for-4 passing with two interceptions in limited action.

The Falcons traded Favre to the Green Bay Packers that offseason for a first-round pick. Three games into the 1992 season, he took over as Green Bay's starter.

Favre would go on to win three MVP awards, one Super Bowl ring, and throw for 71,838 yards and 508 touchdowns. Both of those marks still rank fourth all-time.

Favre has seven other rookie cards scattered across 1991 products, but his 1991 Stadium Club is the most valuable of the bunch. His other rookies are in 1991 Action Packed Rookie Update, 1991 Pacific, 1991 Pro Set, 1991 Pro Set Platinum, 1991 Score, 1991 Ultra and 1991 Upper Deck.

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Raw: $1
PSA 9: N/A
PSA 10: N/A

Thus far, our focus has been on rookie cards of some of the biggest superstars of the 1990s. But we're going to make a hard pivot to close out this list of must-own football cards for 1990s kids.

In 1993, Coca-Cola released a 30-card promotional set around Halloween that was titled the "Monsters of the Gridiron." It featured 29 of the game's biggest stars in what amounted to movie-makeup-level Halloween costumes.

The entire set is AMAZING!

A scroll through the set's TCDB.com page is well worth your time, but the card that stands above the rest is "Tez Rex." Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Cortez Kennedy dressed up as a football-playing T-Rex.

The complete set can be found for $15-20 on eBay. That's money well spent.

All card images courtesy of TCDB, while pricing data is pulled from recent eBay sales as of Thursday morning. Stats via Football Reference.