Jonathan Taylor Rookie Card Guide

Football diehard, casual fan, fantasy player, or card collector—whoever you are, I don’t need to tell you all about Jonathan Taylor. I mean, the man is only 16 touchdowns away from becoming the player with the most touchdowns ever in his first three NFL seasons, passing Barry Sanders. Yes, Barry Sanders! Let that sink in.

From a card perspective, things are of course much different now—while rare Barry Sanders cards in the form of inserts and cool and shiny parallels were the chaser back in the day (and even now), rookie cards for Jonathan Taylor and other rising stars will carry the card torch.

So, with that said, let’s take a look at the different Jonathan Taylor cards you can add to your collection just in time for his potentially record-breaking season to get under way.

2020 Panini Prizm #332 Jonathan Taylor RC

Every card list for any NFL or NBA rookie in today’s game is going to start with Prizm. That’s just the way the game goes these days. For as synonymous as “Topps” is with baseball rookie cards, you simply cannot think about Prizm when talking NFL RCs.

So, here we are. Simple and beautiful; “chromium” finish and thus heavy card stock, RC shield, and everything you can want in a card. Not to mention that the Colts’ home whites popping off the darker background, accompanied by an isolated action shot of Taylor bursting through the hole (probably).

And while for all of these I’ll just be talking about base versions for the most part, you of course should know that silver Prizm is the play for most collectors, which not only ups the value, but the visual magnificence the card has to offer. Oh, and don’t forget those parallels and color-matches.

2020 Panini Select Jonathan Taylor RC

Of course, you can’t mention Prizm and not talk about Select. And quickly, for those of you new to football cards and parallels, buckle up. While Prizm has a number of different “versions” of the same card but just in different colors, etc. Select will have all of those available and then some.

Meaning, you’re not only going to have different colors of the same card, but you’re going to have different “levels,” in which you’ll have different colors and different cards (different photos, etc.) In Select football, there are different levels: Concourse is the most common level, followed by Premier Level, Club Level, and Field Level. If you ever have difficulty remembering the order, just think about watching a football game in-person—you’d rather be field level than on the concourse.

So, what does this mean for Jonathan Taylor rookie cards? For Select, there are a ton. If it were me, and just collecting based off looks and card design, I’d have a hard time not chasing a blue color-match Field Level. It has the best design, the best photo, and while not “Colts blue” is close enough for my tastes.

2020 Contenders Jonathan Taylor Rookie Ticket Stub Auto

You know a set has staying power when it can run out basically the same design each year, across multiple sports and still maintain popularity. With Contenders, what you see is what you get, and it has been that way for a while now–ticket mockup with player information, player action photo, and scene.

As our first featured auto on the list here, it’s at a much more attainable price then some that will be mentioned shortly—but it’s still on-card and still very much a card you should be proud to add to your collection.

Now, all that said, I actually love the Contenders Optic version a lot more, only because it offers all of the above and that chromium finish and Prizm surfacing. There is also a college ticket card if you prefer Taylor in his Wisconsin uniform.

2020 Panini Optic Jonathan Taylor #167

Ok, especially after mentioning Optic above, I had to include Optic here next. Now, I know I’m not every collector, and cards like Prizm and Select get most of the shine, but I really love Optic. I’m also more of a traditional card collector, so the fact that Optic resembles more of a traditional trading card (which makes sense because it’s basically “Donruss Chrome” if you wanted to put it into Topps terms).

And with that Donruss connection, you get the lovely “rated rookie” logo which is high on the list of things any coveted rookie card should have!

Similar to Prizm above, you’ll have the base version of the card, and then you’ll have a “silver” version (which if you need to brush up on your Panini terminology, here are some notes on Prizm vs. Holo vs. Refractor). You’ll also have the different parallels and colors (again, the blue is beautiful).

2020 Panini National Treasures

As you can see, I’m keeping this one pretty open ended, and that’s because National Treasures offers a lot of variety depending on the type of collector you are. Meaning, if you want a high end Jonathan Taylor auto, you really don’t have to look much further than this—with RPAs and booklets, jumbo materials and patches, and more.

On the lower end, though, it’s not all about the auto with National Treasures, and if your budget or collector’s needs are more suited to relics and patches, there are plenty. In true National Treasures fashion, most are on a clean white background, and of course numbered.

Jonathan Taylor Rookie Card List

With those five cards mentioned above, there are a ton of other JT RC options, and while I can’t go through them all, I can provide this list, with the bulk of the information courtesy of Go GTS.

This list is searchable and sortable, so if you’re looking for something specific, be sure to utilize those functions.