As Osweiler wins, rookie card demand skyrockets

Tony Sibert has been stocking up on Brock Osweiler rookie cards over the years.

“I knew this was coming,” Sibert said last week.

Osweiler has been waiting in the wings for nearly four years to play quarterback for the Denver Broncos. With all-star Peyton Manning out, Osweiler has had admirable performances in the backup roll.

And Sibert has a small stack of Osweiler’s rookie cards as demand has surged for anything to do with the Kalispell native and Flathead hero.

“It’s crazy right now,” Sibert, who owns Sports Cards Plus in Columbia Falls — the only sports card store left in western Montana. “Osweiler was already the highest price benchwarmer in the league.”

A plain-Jane rookie card from 2012 as of last Thursday was still relatively easy on the wallet at $5, because about 800 of them had been printed. But rarer cards with Osweiler’s signature and piece of his jersey wedged inside the plastic were going for more than $200 and some cards made in 2013 and 2014 were nearly impossible to get because the card companies only made a handful of them to begin with, Sibert said.

Sibert was also showing pictures of Osweiler that Randy Bocksnick took when Osweiler was a member of the Flathead Braves basketball team in 2007. That year, Osweiler played against the Columbia Falls at home and the Wildcats lost in a tight game, 71-61.

If Osweiler continues to have success — and Sibert thinks he will, noting he’s been tutored by two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in John Elway and Manning — the price of the cards will continue to rise.

Osweiler was also featured last week on the regional cover of Sports Illustrated.