4,049 words, 21 minutes read time.
With the 2024 NFL draft around the corner and many of the best sets (Prizm, Optic, etc) now released, it’s a good time to put together a collection of some of the best cards available for the top 2024 NFL Rookies. We’ll break it up by position, lay out a gallery of some of the hottest cards and biggest pulls for each player, and even include some shopping links if you want to track down some of these cards on Ebay and add them to your PC.
As Select and Immaculate / National Treasures gets released, we’ll keep adding to this over time, so bookmark this page and don’t forget to check out our monster Prizm and Optic set reviews, viewable here:
2024 Panini Prizm Football set review | 2024 Donruss Optic Football set review
Consider the order we place the players in the official ranking / tier list from MONKEY MAN Sports – top of the each position list is the cream of the crop.
2024 NFL Quarterback (QB) Rookies
MONKEY SCORE 🐵🐵🐵🐵🐵 (out of 5) – QB is *stacked* this year. You could even add Joe Milton III to the QB rookies to be excited about here, but he got traded to Dallas, so I can’t in good conscience add him to the list just yet as it might be another 2-3 seasons before he plays, because of Dak Prescott. At least McCarthy looks to be the firm QB1 in Minnesota now, so we have all the reason in the world to chase these QB cards. Phenomenal year for QBs, closest thing we’ve had in years since 2018 (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson) and 2020 (Burrow, Tagovailoa, Love). Rip with excitement chasing these guys.
- Jayden Daniels
- Bo Nix
- Caleb Williams
- Drake Maye
- JJ McCarthy
- Michael Penix Jr
2024 NFL Wide Receiver (WR) Rookies
MONKEY SCORE 🐵🐵🐵🐵🐵 – WR cards rarely hold their value like QB cards do, but this draft class is as good as it gets. All five of the top receivers listed are WR1s on their respective teams and are all poised to have bigger second years
- Brian Thomas Jr
- Malik Nabers
- Ladd McConkey
- Xavier Worthy
- Marvin Harrison Jr
2024 NFL Running Back (RB) Rookies
MONKEY SCORE 🐵🐵 – If not for Bucky, this class would be a flat zero out of five, but Bucky was so good that he props the whole thing up by himself. 1,500 yards from scrimmage and full control of a backfield that likes to run and check down the ball when needed. Also, have you seen his iconic autograph? A collector’s dream, if you’re a RB fan like I am. Buy and hold, both in sports cards and in fantasy football.
Honorable mentions to Ray Davis (who looked good in limited touches behind James Cook), Blake Corum (looks talented but never gets on the field because of Kyren Williams), and Jonathon Brooks (the highest drafted RB, who spent the whole year injured and probably already lost his job to Chuba Hubbard, who was stellar and locked up a big contract.)
- Bucky Irving
2024 NFL Tight End (TE) Rookies
MONKEY SCORE 🐵🐵 – It’s Brock Bowers, that’s the guy. All Brock Bowers, all the time. He’s probably already the best TE in the NFL after just one season, and he props up the TE class like Bucky props up the RBs. Might be the next Kelce / Gronk for all we know. Collect his cards!
Dishonorable mentions to Tip Reiman, whose cards I pull constantly and WAY too often, and big Ben Sinott, whose cards trick me again and again into thinking I pulled a Jayden Daniels, as they’re both on the Commanders. Ben, you had 5 receptions for 28 yards. Total. In 17 games. Get out of my packs, bruh.
- Brock Bowers
2024 NFL Defense / Special Teams Rookies
MONKEY SCORE 🐵🐵 – Coop is the only player of mention in football card collecting. Despite how good Jared Verse was, I don’t see him being the next Miles Garrett / TJ Watt. Pat Surtain was probably the last big cornerback worth collecting, but DeJean pick-sixed that goofball Mahomes in the Superbowl and now his cards sell better than any running back, so we gotta include him as the standard bearer for DEF/ST cards this year.
- Cooper DeJean
— 2024 NFL Quarterback (QB) Rookies —
Jayden Daniels – QB, Washington Commanders
1st round, 2nd overall. Overnight he turned the Commanders from a disorganized, middle of the pack kind of team to legit threat, and they’re only going to get better over the next few years as they add more pieces to a puzzle that’ll be built around JD5. Going to be exciting for years to come.
Bo Nix – QB, Denver Broncos
1st round, 12th overall. Like Daniels, he was QB1 to start the season. And like Daniels, he looked strong and confident right out of the gate, transformed the Broncos offense and led them to the first playoff spot in like, a decade. He popped off in the final game of the season to clinch that playoff berth, throwing for 300+ yards and four TDs. Bo is the real deal.
Caleb Williams – QB, Chicago Bears
1st round, 1st overall. The hype was outrageous surrounding Caleb coming into 2024, so much so that you could have been forgiven at the time for thinking there were any other big QBs coming into the league. Chicago also added Rome Odunze through the same 2024 draft, and picked up Keenan Allen in free agency to help out DJ Moore and Cole Kmet. Even with this wealth of offensive weapons, Caleb looked uncomfortable most of the year, largely due to a shaky offensive line. Year two, with a beefier O line, should prove productive for Williams. Buy low while you can, he’s a super talented dude.
Drake Maye – QB, New England Patriots
1st round, 3rd overall. Despite a strong preseason, he started on the bench, backing up Jacoby Brisett. When he finally got the nod in week 5, with the Patriots sitting at 1-4, he came out strong and chucked three TDs. Drake has a ton of upside on what is right now a very bad Patriots team. If he can stay healthy and New England gives him more weapons to work with (they *did* pick up Stefon Diggs in free agency this offseason, so that’t something), he should stay productive through 2025.
JJ McCarthy – QB, Minnesota Vikings
1st round, 10th overall. Minnesota traded up from the 11th pick to the 10th to chase down JJ, and he likely would have made a debut in 2024 had a) he not been injured in the first preseason game, and b) Sam Darnold had not surprised by putting together a competent 2024 campaign, so much so that he signed for some pretty big money over in Seattle during the offseason. With Darnold moving on, the team looks to be squarely in JJ’s hands coming into 2025, and the Vikings are built to win now, with a monster defense and maybe the top receiver in the game with Justin Jefferson. Let’s see what this kid can do.
Michael Penix Jr – QB, Atlanta Falcons
1st round, 8th overall. Kirk Cousins signed for a million billion dollars in ATL, which sat Penix on the bench to start the season. After a hot start for Cousins (he launched up 500+ passing yards in one game near the start of the season), he looked worse and worse by the game. As the season went on, Kirk looked old, tired and immobile, which led to some mediocre at best performances. Penix got the nod heading into the final third of the 2024 season, which saw Atlanta finish 8-9 and miss the playoffs. MPJ looked… ok in his handful of starts. A little shaky, a little nervous, sure. But some undeniable arm talent and more reasonable expectations heading into 2025 should help Penix connect with Bijan and Drake London, and may finally be the missing piece of the puzzle needed to get Kyle Pitts moving in this Falcons offense. Should be fun to watch.
2024 NFL QB Rookies Final Thoughts
That’s six straight QBs all lining up to start 2025 as their respective QB1s. We didn’t mention Joe Milton III, who looked arguable BETTER than Drake Maye in his one opportunity to start, freshly traded to the Pats.
We didn’t mention Spencer Rattler, who started a few games for the Saints, looked very meh, and is more of a backup QB than a starter, barring some wild offseason development that nobody could predict.
Jordan Travis got picked up by the Jets, and given how much JF2 runs, he could get a start soon. Michael Pratt was drafted by the Packers, then traded to the Bucs, and who knows where he’ll get his chance.
You literally cannot ask for a better collection of QBs, and 2025’s draft is gearing up in much the same direction. If you’re just getting into collecting football cards, you picked a wild time to get started!
— 2024 NFL Wide Receiver (WR) Rookies —
Brian Thomas Jr – WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
1st round, 23rd overall. All the hype and fanfare heading into Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season, at least when it came to the WR position, was Malik Nabers this and Marvin Harrison Jr that. Boy, did we miss the boat on BTJ. If you were a fantasy football player, you likely made the playoffs or won your league because you got your hands on BTJ by accident, early in the year, and reaped the benefits week after week. Thomas was electric week in and week out, and almost singlehandedly propped up the entire Jacksonville offense, all the while dealing with a murky RB situation and an injury that knocked his QB1 out of commission. With Trevor Lawrence sidelined, BTJ cooked even harder.
Coming from LSU, he’s another in a long line of exceptional receivers that include Ja’marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. In another year or so, it might make perfect sense to list his name in the same sentence for his NFL production as well. Thomas finished with 10 TDs and 3rd in receiving yards as a rookie and was very much the best WR in the 2024 draft class.
Malik Nabers – WR, New York Giants
1st round, 6th overall. Shaky QB play did not affect Nabers much in his first year, as he lived up to the fanfare surrounding his physical talent and ability to with the 50/50 ball more than 50% of the time. Nabers cooked through the season on a terrible Giants team where both his own team and the defending team was fully aware that Malik was the only relevant downfield threat, and that didn’t stop him from racking up over 100+ receptions and 7 TDs on the season.
Nabers finished the season with an exclamation point, going for 171 yards and 2 TDs in a big win over the Colts. The offseason has very much improved his prospects. Russel Wilson heading to the Giants should likely do for Nabers what it did for George Pickens in Pittsburgh – give him the best moon ball in the NFL to haul in for big production in year two. Malik Nabers is legit.
Ladd McConkey – WR, LA Chargers
2nd round, 34th overall. Ladd was a revelation in 2024. He exploded for 197 yards and a touchdown in the wild card playoff game and ended the year as the focal point in a Chargers offense that, over the 2023 offseason, unloaded their top two WRs (Keenan Allen and Mike Williams) and their 20 TD running back (Ekeler). The result of that giant shakeup was a laser focus on maximizing the absolute steal they got in McConkey, who dropped to the top of the second round of the draft and finished 2024 as the 3rd best WR in his class.
1,149 yards, 7 TDs and a great rookie season in the books, it’s easy to look forward to watching his connection with Justin Herbert improve in his second year. This is a guy who, in high school, played QB, RB, DB and he also punted the ball… and played as a return specialist.
Translation: Ladd McConkey is good at football.
Xavier Worthy – WR, Kansas City Chiefs
1st round, 28th overall. Worthy has a weird first year. He’s got undeniable talent and unbelievable speed, but it was a story of hit and miss all year. He started the year by setting the all-time record in the 40 yard dash at the NFL combine (4.21 seconds, best ever), then got drafted in the first round to a Superbowl dynasty team with a lethal passer in Patrick Mahomes. He scored a touchdown on his first catch in the NFL!
Throughout the year however, he ended up with wildly average-to-mediocre numbers, and wasn’t even a fantasy relevant player – and that’s saying something, considering KC doesn’t even really have a legit WR2 after Worthy, at the moment. Kansas City has been dying to fill the void left behind after Tyreek Hill headed to Miami, and coming into the season Worthy looked like the exact fit for that spot.
In the Superbowl, however, Xavier showed up big, going for 150+ yards and two TDs – which means he can clearly ball out and take advantage of his opportunities, even on the biggest of big stages.
Look for a strong second year out of Xavier Worthy in 2025, and likely a doubling of his 2024 production (638 yards, 3 TDs). He was quite good but not before long here, he will be *great.*
Marvin Harrison Jr – WR, Arizona Cardinals
1st round, 4th overall. Honestly, I’m a little biased here as MHJ was the highest drafted receiver, and I thought there was too much hype surrounding him to begin with. Is he a competent NFL receiver? Absolutely. But going into the draft, I felt it was his namesake and pedigree that surrounded him with buzz, and not his physical talent (Nabers, Worthy) or playmaking IQ (McConkey).
In fairness, Arizona is a weird one. Before MHJ, the last offensive player they drafted was Kyler Murray back in 2019. And excluding Josh Rosen the year prior, you have to look back to 2021 and Michael Floyd (WR) to find another offensive player. It’s a strange place to start when their last decade of draft and development history has been entirely focused on defense development, and that defense has never been good enough to compete either.
His stat line after Week 1 was one catch, for four yards. Then he blew up in Week 2 for 130 yards on just four receptions, scoring two TDs.
He left Week 6 with a concussion, and then finally put another decent showing together in Week 8 with 100+ yards and a TD. Weird, grindy first year.
Marvin Harrison Jr finished the year with 885 yards and 8 TDs, and is the unquestioned WR1 on a team with a QB situation that has been looking more dicey by the year. It feels hard to predict where MHJ is headed, but if I had to guess, I’d expect a very similar season in year two – under 1,000 receiving yards, under 10 TDs and another difficult campaign.
Good luck, Marv.
2024 NFL WR Rookies Final Thoughts
Shout out and special mention to the following, fairly good first year receivers who were also drafted quite high and should have some better second years ahead:
- Rome Odunze, Chicago — Another year of development and offseason work with Caleb Williams should see a rhythm develop here and a much stronger showing. The new head coach should work wonders for getting Rome better involved in the Bears 2025 offense.
- Xavier Legette, Carolina — Carolina is badly in need of a WR core that can produce results, in hopes of making things work with Bryce Young. They paid a king’s ransom to make Bryce “The Guy” for the Panthers, and have a rough history of drafting exceptional talents and then letting them walk to other teams. Let’s hope Legette (and the new addition of Tetairoa McMillan) can get the dots to connect in his second year.
- Keon Coleman, Buffalo — After losing Stefon Diggs, the Bills WR corps was nebulous to start 2024 and it didn’t really become very well defined as the year went on. The veteran Khalil Shakir was great, certain games. Keon shined in others. The hope seems to be that Coleman becomes the WR1, and in 2025, we’ll see if that’s possible. He certainly can’t ask for a better QB to work with than the reigning MVP Josh Allen.
All of these guys appear in insert sets, SSPs, and you can find Downtown and KABOOM! cards of these dudes. And any one of them have the circumstance and talent to develop into a top-flight player for their respective teams. Like the QBs, 2024 was a great year for WR fans and you can collect with confidence.
— 2024 NFL Running Back (RB) Rookies —
Bucky Irving – RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
4th round, 125th overall. Rachaad White was so solid for the Bucs in 2023, that it seemed like Bucky was just a reliable failsafe position, a long term play, a smart plan for the future. I’d argue that fantasy football players who did their research knew what was coming before the Bucs fans did. Bucky, on paper, looked every bit the right kind of explosive, gap-shooting RB that creates huge fantasy production and he was stashed on the bench of every fantasy league as eager managers waited for his turn to take snaps.
Despite slow usage to start the season, Bucky went wild as the season progressed, fully taking over the backfield and finishing with 1100 rushing yards (averaging 5.4 yards per carry!) and almost 400 receiving yards (8.3 average yards!). He spiked in 8 TDs and was outrageously good in 2024 for a rookie RB.
For the sports card collector, he also has a lovely, clean autograph shouting out the word Bucky in an iconic look. Perfect for the wax. I’m all-in on Bucky Irving, for 2025 and beyond. The only downside from a collecting standpoint is that he won’t be found on too many of the top end case hit inserts, due to coming in as a 4th round pick (which, it turns out, was highway robbery).
The upside, is that he signed with Panini, so his autos are readily available on the licensed product. Up with JJ McCarthy and Penix, he might be one of the few other really chase-worthy autographs out there in the Panini ecosystem.
— 2024 NFL Tight End (TE) Rookies —
Brock Bowers – TE, Las Vegas Raiders
1st round, 13th overall. It’s not possible to understate how impactful Brock was in his rookie season. I’m just going to copy-paste directly from his Wikipedia page here, as it’s literally ridiculous:
Bowers played all 17 games through the 2024 season and led the team in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns, finishing with 112 catches for 1,194 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. His receptions and receiving yards were the highest among all tight ends in the league that season, veterans included. Bowers was named First-team All-Pro, earned Pro Bowl honors, and set numerous records with his rookie performance. Bowers broke an all-time record for most receiving yards by a rookie tight end, set more than half a century ago by Mike Ditka (1,076 yards) in 1961. He broke a league record for the most receptions in a season by a rookie (of any position), set the prior year by wide receiver Puka Nacua (105 catches). He also set a franchise record for the most receptions in a season by a Raider, beating out the 107 catches made by Darren Waller in 2020. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.
Dude went NUTS. And given how Vegas has retooled up for 2025, upgrading at QB, RB and the offensive line through the draft, you have to imagine Brock is going to go nuts in his sophomore season too.
— 2024 NFL Defense (DEF/ST) Rookies —
Cooper DeJean – CB, Philadelphia Eagles
2nd round, 40th overall. He’s a white cornerback, which is rare enough as it is, and he picked off Patrick Mahomes II as his FIRST career INT, and then returned it for a touchdown, in the damn Superbowl. He went from being a solid rookie CB to an overnight collector sensation, and his cards carry some serious value at the time this is being written. I have to imagine the values will come down over time.
Still, cool origin story for a NFL cornerback, love to see it. 🙂
Closing thoughts on 2024 NFL Top Rookies to Collect
I’m writing this post just after watching Day 1 of the 2025 NFL draft, which was, for offensive players and football card collectors, a little underwhelming at the moment. Travis Hunter looks like a clear and obvious generational talent, and the Jaguars just jumped through some HOOPS trading up to get him. That’s going to support what’s going on with Brian Thomas Jr in his second year. Abdul Carter looks like the next TJ Watt / Myles Garrett, which is cool, but defensive players never have the same hype for fantasy football or sports card collectors that offensive players do. Oddly, if you look at Myles Garrett’s cards vs. TJ Watt’s cards, TJ gets more insert love and higher resale value vs. Myles, but Myles has 2x DPOY awards. Odd. Maybe worth it’s own analysis post at some point.
Ashton Jeanty is probably my sneaky favorite player I’ll be collecting next year, as I just love RBs and the Raiders are my second favorite team, so that’s going to be fun.
But the QBs? It’s basically just Cam Ward at this point, and the consensus seems to say that if Cam Ward was draftable in the 2024 class, he might be the 6th best QB behind everyone that was picked in 2024.
Shedeur Sanders slipped out of the 1st round amidst a ton of buzz, but then again Lamar and Aaron Rodgers slipped from where they expected to get picked as well, so it remains to be seen if Sanders is a viable rookie chase card. At the moment, there isn’t a clear option. It feels a lot like the 2023 draft class at the moment – some great WRs and RBs to chase (in 2023, we’re talking Bijan and Puka and Gibbs), but not much other than the big QB target (Bryce Young).
My point is this – rarely do we get such a stacked year of QBs and WRs to enjoy. The last time the QB draft class looked like this was back in 2021 with five QBs taken in the first round, and it was a disaster where none of them have worked out even 20% as well as Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix already have:
- Trevor Lawrence
- Zach Wilson
- Trey Lance
- Justin Fields
- Mac Jones
Fields is probably the best of the bunch here but has had a ROUGH run of it in the NFL thus far. Situations, coaching, and so forth. Lawrence got a giant boost in seeing Jacksonville add Travis Hunter here, which says to me that at least the ownership and administration is committed to building around TLaw and trying to make it work, which gives his legacy some serious hope if they Jags become a playoff team in 2025.
Soak it up, my friends. 2024’s rookie class, from a collector’s standpoint, is a launchpad for what looks like five franchise QB1s, at least 2-3 WRs that look like Pro Bowl material already, and the best tight end in the league. It’s crazy. It’s the stuff we dream about – relevant players to chase and collect.
The best rip is the next rip, when you’ve got a little someone for everyone to chase down.
Happy Hunting!
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