Week 4 brought a few clean takeaways, but it also came with the usual NFL mess: more injuries to star players and a handful of 2-2 teams whose next month could swing a lot of things. In the hobby, that means the market is already starting to sort winners from wait-and-sees.
No story has burned hotter than Bryce Young. Not long ago, it would have sounded ridiculous to say the 2023 No. 1 overall pick might be the league’s passing yards leader at any point in his career.
At midseason in 2024, he’d been benched for Andy Dalton and Carolina was careening toward a 5-12 finish in Dave Canales’ first year. Then Dalton’s unfortunate minor car accident changed the path, and now the Panthers’ 2026 version with Young looks legitimately dangerous even while being hammered by defensive injuries through four weeks.
Young currently leads the NFL in passing yards and is tied for third in passing touchdowns. He’s built a big chunk of that production through Tetoria McMillan, the 2025 first-round pick, who has the sixth-most receiving yards over that span, and Jalen Coker has added another layer to the offense with 222 receiving yards despite missing Sunday’s game.
Carolina is only 2-2, and some of that production has come against two NFC North teams that couldn’t slow the pass, but the market doesn’t care much about context when the box scores keep piling up. Young’s Silver Prizm PSA 10 has nearly doubled since the season started, and with the Buccaneers and Packers coming before Halloween, there may still be room for more.
Dallas is making its own case as a hobby mover. The Cowboys’ 34-30 win over the Texans felt like the kind of game that can change how people view a team, and maybe how they view the cards tied to it.
CeeDee Lamb put together a monster performance against a talented Houston secondary, finishing with a single-game career high of 17 catches and 189 receiving yards, his third-best yardage total in a game. He now has three straight 100-yard outings, and Dak Prescott has been right there with him, posting a 6:0 TD:INT ratio and 890 passing yards over the last three weeks despite tough opponents.
That run has shown up in the market. Prescott’s 2016 Silver Prizm PSA 10 has climbed to over $325 after opening the season around $270, while Lamb’s card market has risen about 15 percent since the start of September.
The schedule could help fuel more of that movement, with games against the Packers, Buccaneers, Cardinals, and Colts ahead. If the passing game keeps humming, the Cowboys’ skill players may not stay cheap for long.
Minnesota presents a more frustrating picture. The Vikings have won three straight, but they’ve scored just 48 points across those games, and the offense has looked strangely flat even against soft competition.
Those wins came against some of the league’s weakest teams and a Bears squad without Caleb Williams that played in a monsoon, which doesn’t exactly scream offensive momentum. Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson each missed a game during that stretch, but for a team with Kevin O’Connell at quarterback, the output has still been surprisingly thin.
The upcoming slate offers only a small bump in difficulty before things get serious. The Saints and Colts are next, followed by the Lions and Bills to close out October. Minnesota still carries the fourth-best odds to make the NFC playoffs as of this writing, but the offense needs to wake up fast.
The card market hasn’t exactly embraced the Vikings’ record, either. Murray, who entered the season as a popular pick in the SCN Challenge, has mostly stalled in value, likely tied to his rough first month and just one passing touchdown in two games.
Jefferson’s base 2020 Prizm rookie has slipped some after his Week 3 ankle injury, and neither Jordan Addison nor T.J. Hockenson has seen much meaningful lift despite flashes of production.
There’s still time for that group to turn, but the window for a real spike may not stay open much longer.
In Other News...
Panthers Survived The Injury Wave And Now Relief May Be Near
The Panthers have spent the first month of the season juggling one injury report after another, yet they somehow emerged from that stretch at 2-2 and with a little momentum intact. Key players have landed on injured reserve, others have sat out games, and the roster has been in near-constant motion, forcing the coaching staff to keep adjusting on the fly while trying to protect a decent start.
A bye week now offers the first real chance for some relief, with Trevor Etienne, Taylor Moton and Tershawn Wharton among the players who could be back in play afterward. Nothing is official until medical clearance comes through, but even the possibility of getting healthier is a welcome shift for a team that has had to win with a patchwork lineup and could use some stability as the schedule tightens again. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Defense Could Push Carolina Toward One Low-Risk Deadline Move
With Carolina still searching for answers on defense, the trade deadline could offer a low-cost way to bring in some help. One name that has surfaced is veteran defensive lineman Solomon Thomas of the Tennessee Titans, a former first-round pick who might fit as a depth add without requiring much in return.
Thomas has not played much this season, which is part of what makes him such an appealing target for a team trying to patch a unit that has struggled. If the price really is as modest as a conditional seventh-round pick, the Panthers have a realistic path to make a move before the deadline and add another body to the front seven without changing the long-term picture much. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Young Is Giving Panthers Fans A New Way To Clap Back
Bryce Youngs second season has given Panthers fans something they did not have a year ago: a clear, football-backed answer when the conversation turns negative. After a rocky rookie campaign, Young has looked far more comfortable this season, his passing production has jumped and his efficiency has taken a step forward under coach Dave Canales, even while Carolina has had to work through injuries around him. His progress has turned him into a central piece of the offense and changed the mood around a player who was too quickly written off by plenty of outsiders.
Robert Griffin III added fuel to that shift by publicly calling for apologies to Young from the people who labeled him a bust, a sentiment Panthers supporters have been eager to embrace. For a team and fan base that spent so much of last season defending the quarterbacks long-term outlook, Youngs growth has created a new kind of comeback narrative, one that lets Carolina clap back with performance instead of projection. [Read more 🡒]