The Nation's Best Tight End's Lone Trading Card is Found Buried in a Decade Old Topps Football Product
Penn State tight end Tyler Warren has become one of the best all-around players in college football this season. This past weekend, he broke the school's all-time record for career receiving touchdowns by a tight end, adding yet another category that his name sits atop of in the Nittany Lion record book.
Warren has become so much more than just the best tight end in the country. He has developed himself into an almost positionless, all-around, all-purpose offensive threat. This season, the skilled passer used his arm to toss a touchdown pass. He's used his legs to rush for four touchdowns and, of course, he's used his elite hands on the receiving end of four touchdown passes.
With the ever-growing and constantly changing world of NIL, and a seemingly endless supply of new card releases, including Bowman University, Prizm Draft, Leaf, SAGE and a handful more, it's a bit surprising that Warren has yet to be featured in any of these collegiate centric products.
That's not to say that he doesn't have an officially licensed football card already... because he does.
Hardcore collectors have to go all the way back to the 2014 Topps Football product to find a Punt, Pass and Kick Champions card of the future NFL first round pick.
A ten-year-old kid from Mechanicsville, Virginia is buried in the 38-card checklist of elementary and middle school football stars. That kid is current Penn State superstar Tyler Warren.
Warren is immortalized on his first card getting ready to launch a pass downfield in PP&K competition.
Although a decade younger, Warren technically shares an official first year Topps card with 2014 NFL Draft class rookies such as Davante Adams, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham, Jr., Derek Carr, Aaron Donald and others found elsewhere in the deep product.
The Punt, Pass, & Kick competition began in 1961, and at one time was so popular that highlights were shown on CBS as a part of the channel's NFL coverage.
Winners in each age group (6 to 15) were determined by the total distance of their punts, passes, and kicks as well as the accuracy in said events.
The free event started on a local level as winners advanced to the sectional level. Through different rounds of competition and elimination, contestants advanced to the national stage and competed in the national finals.
The PP&K competition had been around for decades with more than a few big names having competed over the years. Some of the more well-known participants include Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, Major League Baseball player and Little League baseball hero Todd Frazier who won the event that season (Did that young man win everything?), as well as Indianapolis Colts retired punter and media mogul Pat McAfee. It's been well documented that current Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, looking three times his age and size, famously competed in the event, too.
A very early foreshadowing of his dynamic football future, Warren showed his punting, passing and kicking skills in the 2013 competition in the 10 and 11-year-old age bracket.
Sadly, back in May of 2017, the NFL announced that the PP&K competition would be terminated after an amazing 56 years of operation. The league still seeks some alternative for the great event.
Collectors might have to wait a few more months to get any college or draft pick cards of this sure-fire NFL lottery pick. Nittany Nation will have to wait even longer to see him in his eventual pro uniform, but we can all go back right now and get this really fun card of Tyler Warren long before he was tearing it up at Beaver Stadium.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms