There are many options for football card collectors when it comes to Tua Tagovailoa rookie cards, ranging from more entry-level, to high-end premium, and expensive cards.
In my opinion, the best Tua rookie card is his 2020 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card, which is also his most expensive rookie to buy.
There are also good alternative options, for different budgets; I’ve covered all the top picks below.
Table of Contents
Quick Summary - Top Picks
In a hurry? Here’s a quick look at the top picks for Tua Tagovailoa rookies.
For Low Budget
- 2020 Panini Prizm #339
For Mid Budget
- 2020 Panini Absolute Kaboom! #KTT1 & #KTT2
For High Budget
The Best Tua Tagovailoa Rookie Cards
2020 Panini Prizm Tua Tagovailoa #339
Every season, Panini Prizm is one of the most popular football card sets on the market.
While the base 2020 Panini Prizm Tua Tagovailoa rookie card is a nice chromium option, part of the big appeal of the Prizm set is the numerous different parallels, which have varied scarcity.
The base version is mainstream and low-value, but the numerous parallels offer levels of rarity, as well as added color.
There’s options for all budgets, and the lowest-numbered and rarest parallels are among Tua Tagovailoa’s most valuable football cards.
A PSA 10 graded copy of the Gold Vinyl parallel (/5) sold for $10.8k, in 2023, which made it one of Tua’s most valuable unsigned rookie cards.
2020 Panini Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Tua Tagovailoa #152
The Donruss Optic Tua rookie is a slightly more premium, and valuable, version of the standard Donruss Rated Rookie card.
It adds some optichrome to the already popular Rated Rookie design, and it offers a good alternative to his Prizm rookie card.
The set follows a similar concept to Prizm, with low-value and readily-available base cards, which come with numerous parallel options, that have different levels of rarity.
I would say this one isn’t as popular as the Prizm card, but it still offers a good unsigned chrome Tua rookie, with good brand prestige.
2020 Panini Mosaic Tua Tagovailoa #262
Another chromium option for collectors is the 2020 Panini Mosaic Tua Tagovailoa rookie card.
The Prizm-esque Mosaic card designs are popular with collectors. Again, the base version is an entry-level Tagovailoa rookie, in terms of value.
Mosaic also has a variety of different parallels, with different colors and scarcity levels, which also hold more value than the base card.
2020 Panini Select Tua Tagovailoa #45 Concourse, #145 Premier, #245 Club, #345 Field
The base 2020 Panini Select Tua Tagovailoa rookie cards are among his best, and most popular rookie options.
Panini Select works on a tiered system, with 4 different base cards, which have varying scarcity.
The first, and most common, is the Concourse (#45) card, which is pictured above; There’s also the Premier (#145) card, the Club (#245) card and the Field (#345) card, which is the rarest and most valuable of the base cards.
All 4 different base cards have some differences in design and imagery, and all have their own set of different, more valuable parallel versions.
Back in 2023, a PSA 10 graded copy of the Field card’s Gold Prizm parallel (/10) sold for $7.8k.
2020 Panini Absolute Tua Tagovailoa #194
Panini Absolute is another popular set among collectors. The 2020 Absolute Tua Tagovailoa rookie card is another more entry level option, but with a nice looking dark themed card.
There are a wide selection of parallel versions, which add color and rarity, for this card as well.
2020 Panini Prizm Draft Picks Tua Tagovailoa #101
The Panini Prizm Draft Picks set offers collectors the first place to get licensed collegiate cards for the upcoming season – so it’s a popular set; It features key names heading into the NFL Draft for that season.
The 2020 Prizm Draft Picks set featured Tua Tagovailoa as a draft pick rookie.
The rookies are featured with their college teams, so Tua is seen on his card with the Alabama Crimson Tide uniform; Something a bit different to most of his other rookies for collectors.
This one also comes with numerous, and more valuable, parallel versions.
2020 Panini Donruss Optic Downtown Tua Tagovailoa #DT30
The Donruss Optic Downtown inserts rarely disappoint, and the 2020 Downtown Tua Tagovailoa rookie card is no exception; This is personally one of my favorite first-year Tagovailoa cards.
The card offers something different in the design to Tua’s other rookies, with references in the artistic styled imagery to Tagovailoa’s heritage, and the Miami Dolphins.
The sole parallel is a 1-of-1 Gold Vinyl version, but he also has a Downtown card from the regular 2020 Donruss set, which is practically identical.
In 2023, the base version sold for as much as $2.38k, graded PSA 10; Overall, it’s a popular option, which is rare, and holds good value.
2020 Panini Absolute Kaboom! Tua Tagovailoa #KTT1, #KTT2
Another insert entry – The 2020 Panini Kaboom! Tua Tagovailoa rookie cards make for a very highly sought-after option.
Tua actually has 2 different Kaboom! cards in the set, with slightly different images used.
Kaboom! needs little introduction for those who’ve been around the football card hobby, or involved with modern sports cards in general; Their bold, comic style designs are very popular among collectors.
These weren’t easy to pack, and it makes them relatively hard to get hold of today; They’re among Tua Tagovailoa’s most expensive rookie cards.
Both versions have Gold (/10) and Green (1-of-1) parallels; A PSA 10 graded copy of the Gold parallel (KTT1 version) sold for $18.1k, back in 2021.
The Best Autographed Tua Tagovailoa Rookie Cards
2020 Panini Contenders Optic Autograph Tua Tagovailoa #103
The Panini Contenders rookie cards have long been a favorite of collectors, with the shiny ticket style card, often coming around the mid-value range for rookie cards.
For me, Tua’s Rookie Ticket Autograph card offers collectors the best autograph only (no relic) Tagovailoa rookie card.
The hard-signed autograph has a big premium appeal, and the base version is affordable for most; The bigger-value is found in the array of parallel options.
A BGS 9.5 graded copy of the Cracked Ice parallel version (/22) sold for $4.8k, in 2023.
2020 Panini Immaculate Collection Rookie Patch Autograph Tua Tagovailoa #102
The Panini Immaculate cards belong in the premium category of football cards.
Tua Tagovailoa is featured on numerous different cards within the 2020 set, including this Rookie patch hard-signed auto card, limited to 99 copies.
It does come with some more limited parallels, including the 1-of-1 NFL Shield and 1-of-1 Platinum parallels, which will both hold huge values.
It offers a good, less-expensive, alternative to his coveted National Treasures RPA.
2020 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph Tua Tagovailoa #157
This 2020 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card is, for me, the best Tua Tagovailoa rookie card out there; It’s also the most valuable option.
Panini National Treasures cards are very premium, and are considered the highest-end Panini football cards.
The base version, with the on-card signature and jumbo relic patch, is limited to just 99 copies, and expensive itself, but there are also numerous rarer, and even more valuable, parallel versions.
It’s a hard card to get hold of, and you can expect to pay big money for these, relative to his other rookies.
A PSA 9 graded copy of the popular Stars & Stripes parallel (/20) sold for $48k in 2022, which made it one of Tua’s most expensive football cards ever.
2020 Panini Flawless Rookie Dual Patch Autograph Tua Tagovailoa #RDPATT
Another premium and high-end option for a Tua Tagovailoa rookie card is this 2020 Panini Flawless rookie dual patch auto card.
There are multiple high-end autograph relic Tagovailoa cards from the 2020 Flawless product, but I would say this is the pick of them.
It’s on a similar level to the NT RPA, but not worth quite as much, despite having only 25 numbered copies of the base card.
Again, the dual relic patch and on-card signature are appealing features of this one, as well as the classy Flawless look and feel.
It’s a valuable Tua rookie, and there are also a few limited parallels, like the Silver (/20) which sold for as much as $20k in 2023.
When Was Tua Tagovailoa’s Rookie Season?
Tua Tagovailoa’s rookie season was the 2020 NFL season – He was selected as 5th overall pick by the Miami Dolphins in the 2020 NFL Draft.
What Is The Most Valuable Tua Tagovailoa Rookie Card?
The most valuable Tua Tagovailoa rookie card is his 2020 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card, which features an on-card signature, jumbo relic patch, and is limited to only 99 numbered base copies.
There are some parallel options, which are even more valuable.
The base version has sold for as much as $32.1k in the past.
How Much Are Tua Tagovailoa Rookie Cards Worth?
There’s a wide range of Tua Tagovailoa rookie cards, with varying values. His entry-level rookie cards are generally worth hundreds of dollars in high grades, and his rarer, more premium cards usually sell for thousands of dollars in high grades.
Tua Tagovailoa: A Background
Tuanigamanuolepola Tagovailoa came into the NFL with a lot of promise after his time at the University of Alabama, where he helped lead the Crimson Tide to two National Championship Game appearances, one of which they won.
The Hawaiian quarterback was selected as the 5th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, by the Miami Dolphins, with hopes to help them get back on track.
While his rookie season was affected by injury, he established himself as a starter towards the end of that season, and he remains a hot prospect.
