What a difference two weeks make. Following Week 3, the Raiders were the talk of the town after a 3-0 start. After Sunday's second consecutive loss, this time a demolition at the hands of the Patriots, Fernando Mendoza made his NFL debut.

Is this a precursor to the 2026 No. 1 overall pick finally taking over the reins, or will his starting debut still be in limbo? Plus, could another rookie QB potentially be set to start in the near future?

When Will the Rookie QBs Make Their First Career Start?

Mendoza will rightfully draw all the speculation about his first professional start, but it's entirely possible another rookie QB could beat him to the punch. Wallowing with a 1-4 record and facing the Rams and Broncos over the next two weeks, the Cardinals could turn to their third-round pick, Carson Beck, sooner rather than later.

Neither Beck nor Mendoza has a clear entry point for their professional debuts, but that ambiguity can be beneficial for the hobby. Given the sporadic nature of Panini NFL releases in past years, coupled with premium products often releasing many months after the conclusion of an NFL campaign, there's an argument to be made that the uncertainty regarding two of the top three selected QBs from 2026 can be good for the immediate market.

It's no secret that Topps has aggressively pushed officially licensed NFL product to consumers with releases like Flagship before the season starts. With the unrelenting wave of new product, scooping up prospects who might be buried in the collective consciousness of people is inherently smart and increasingly practical with each new SKU. Like selling an MLB prospect before he makes his MLB debut, monitoring the eventual debut of both Mendoza and Beck will be an important milestone to track in the upcoming weeks.

Trevor Lawrence Could Be Having a Moment

Say what you want about how the Jaguars won Sunday; the point of the matter is they're currently tied for the second-best record in the AFC. Perhaps importantly they appear to be magnitudes better than anyone else in the AFC South, which should ensure at minimum a playoff appearance for Trevor Lawrence and company.

The 2021 No. 1 overall pick has been at times a disappointment relative to his immense hype coming out of Clemson, but Lawrence has quietly put things together in 2026. The 27-year-old is currently tied for fifth in passing touchdowns (10), has the fourth-best passer rating among QBs who have played at least four games, and is near the top 10 in terms of passing yards (1,174) to boot.

Last year was easily Lawrence's best professional season, but he appears to be building upon that success in his second season with head coach Liam Cohen, and his overall market has reflected the uptick.

As the No. 1 overall pick in a year with slightly lower print counts than recent years and quality-control issues to boot, Lawrence's big cards are unique in many ways. His Silver Prizm PSA 10, for example, has a pop of 139, and the card has only transacted 14 times since the month of July, according to Cardladder. The 2021 Donruss Optic Downtown PSA 10 has risen roughly 25 percent from its early August number that hovered around $1600, but that card has sold eight times over the last two months, which clouds the data somewhat. It's clear there's market interest in the signal caller in Jacksonville, but there also appears to be some built-in pessimism.

Time to Nix Bo?

The Broncos entered Week 5 bottom third in the league in both passing and rushing, with no significant injuries to pin the sudden failure on. Sean Payton's return to playcalling in Week 5 was supposed to revive what had been a dormant offense, but the struggles continued in a putrid 23-16 win over an increasingly hapless Chargers.

At this point, it's clear: the Broncos have a Bo Nix problem. The third-year quarterback had a 54:23 TD:INT ratio to go along with 7,706 passing yards through the first two years of his career, and while admittedly those numbers have been propped up by one of the league's most voluminous passing attacks (Nix leads the entire NFL in pass attempts since his debut as the starter), the 26-year-old had been widely considered one of the better young passers in a league increasingly absent of them.

It's possible Nix is still dealing with the effects of a fractured ankle that occurred during last year's AFC Championship game, one that probably would have seen the Broncos advance to the Super Bowl if the starting QB had been healthy for the entirety of the game. But that's about the only reasonable explanation for such a dramatic falloff, which has seen Nix in the bottom third in both passing yards and completion percentage for QBs with four or more starts, despite acquiring Pro Bowl wideout Jaylen Waddle from the Dolphins this offseason.

The dramatic fall-off has been reflected in his card market. Nix's 2024 Silver Prizm PSA 10 has had multiple sales under $525 in recent days. That same card routinely sold for $780-820 throughout August and early September, figures higher than even when Nix and the Broncos were a second half away from competing in the aforementioned Super Bowl. There's still plenty of time for a turnaround to occur in a suddenly weaker AFC West, but it's hard to imagine Nix's card market rebounding to preseason values at this point.