Fernando Mendoza vs. Cam Ward: Battle of No. 1 Picks

The NFL Draft is in the rear-view mirror, and NFL teams have already had their first rookie minicamps. That hasn't slowed down the market for the No. 1 overall pick, Fernando Mendoza. In fact, he had another monster sale this week.

The sale marks the second-highest sale for a Fernando Mendoza card, an impressive number for Bowman University Football. With another big sale, it is worth debating who the better long-term play is between the last two No. 1 picks in the NFL Draft. Ironically, both Ward and Mendoza's top sale is $78,000.

The Case for Cam Ward

The case for Cam Ward is pretty simple, he does more on the football field that people in the hobby like. He's exciting and has some absolute magical moments at times. Does he take too many sacks? Sure. Does he seem like the bigger injury risk? Also, yes.

That said, his ceiling seems higher, and given the off-season addition of WR Wan'Dale Robinson and WR Carnell Tate as the No. 4 pick, his weapons have improved around him. More importantly, the coaching situation is better with Brian Callahan gone. Robert Saleh can put together an elite defense. Even while the offense sputtered in New York, the defense was top-tier. Brian Daboll was largely credited with turning around Josh Allen's career and parlayed that into the head coaching job with the Giants. He reportedly was the main driver behind the selection of Jaxson Dart in New York, so he has an eye for talent and has proven he can get the most out of players.

The market on Ward has been fairly strong, whether it be the final days of Panini or the new dawn with Topps. While Ward and Mendoza have the same top sale, $78,000, the Ward sale was his 1/1 Green Kaboom, one of the best cards we'll see from his rookie season. Meanwhile, Ward has a total of six cards that have sold for over $20,000 so far during his rookie year, including the Topps Chrome Tecmo Superfractor 1/1 from 2025 Topps Chrome.

The Case for Fernando Mendoza

The case for Mendoza essentially comes down to potential. We've seen the market chase Mendoza's prospect cards harder than they ever chased Cam Ward's and each having a top sale of $78,000 might be advantage Mendoza since it's all 1st Bowman at the top vs. Kaboom's and rookie cards for Ward.

Mendoza won't put up gaudy stats or tons of highlight plays like Ward has the potential to do, but he is potentially more consistent. I think it's safe to say the Raiders have the more elite talent around their young quarterback with RB Ashton Jeanty and TE Brock Bowers, but the receiver room is significantly weaker with just Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, and Jack Bech or Deont'e Thornton rounding out the receiving trio. The Raiders also have the benefit of Klint Kubiak running the offense after what he did with Sam Darnold and the Seahawks offense last year en route to a Super Bowl.

While Mendoza doesn't have as many "big" sales as Ward, he is tied for the top sale, and his number two sale is higher than Ward's number two, even if the depth of sales is stronger for Ward. We'll have to see how the case hits evolve with Topps Chrome Football, but for now, it looks like the 1/1 Kaiju may be able to compete with some of the top hits from Panini. Will the Mendoza Kaiju top Ward's Kaboom?

We'll have to wait and see.

The Verdict: Advantage Mendoza

It seems pretty close, and both are poised to be solid quarterbacks in the NFL. I think Ward has the higher ceiling, but the LinkedIn-like attitude from Mendoza already has fans clamoring for his college cards at a record rate and the ability for Tom Brady to influence his career as part-owner of the Raiders, puts him slightly over the top.

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