Values of Little Fish When the Big Fish Comes Along

Now that the golden boy is wearing purple, you can bet that things are going to change for the Vikings. The media will storm the locker room for each game, the players will actually feel the passes in their chest when they catch them, and a lot of the supporting cast will have higher valued cards. In fact, the supporting cast usually benefits completely every time a big thing happens, people seem to think that improving one piece improves the whole.

Adrian Peterson sure stands to benefit, at least initially, for teams having to choose whether to defend against Favre's ability or his. No longer should he face nine fucking players in the box, which means more room to run, and less pounding into the defensive stack with every run. If Favre stays healthy, plays well, and hits some early long passes, Peterson's season will boom faster than dog related crime in Philadelphia. People are seeing this now, as his values have spiked in the last 24 hours, with people speculating that he is on the verge of the best season of his career. If he could put up 1500+ with Jackson and Gus "Bang Your Head" Frerotte at the helm, imagine what could happen with a good QB behind him? Right?

Well, Peterson's stuff is already very expensive, and it really doesn’t need to go any higher until we see the results of Favre on the field. However, Peterson is a simple example, so lets take a look at Earl Bennett, someone who has benefitted from Cutler's replacement of Captain Neckbeard in Chicago. Now that the Bears have a pass happy QB to match their strength at RB, Bennett sure stands to benefit. Last year, Bennett caught a total of zero passes for zero yards for zero TDs. Yet, with little else to compete for catches in Chicago, his value spiked with a pro-bowler throwing him the ball. In my mind, it’s a little bit of a stretch go that far down the rope when the guy played a whole season with nothing to show for it.

Does this mean that people like Harvin will also benefit from Favre's arrival, just like Bennett? So far, there hasn’t been enough time to see the trickle down effect from Favre's signing, but I expect that its on the way. Considering that Bennett's Exquisites have eclipsed sixty bucks for a guy that didn’t catch a ball in his rookie campaign, I would say that Harvin's stuff just became more expensive out of principle.

In reality, card values fluctuate based on any little piece of news, just like many companies on the NYSE and NASDAQ. However, Favre and Cutler arent little in any way, so its easy to see why people want to jump on the cards from the players who stand to benefit. Would I go out and buy all sorts of cards from people like Sidney Rice and Juaqin Iglesias? No, not in a million years, but you may want to cash in if you have them.