Football Card Grading: Complete PSA Submission Guide for 2026
Master football card grading with our complete PSA submission guide. Learn which cards to grade, costs, handling tips, and how to pre-screen.
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Master football card grading with our complete PSA submission guide. Learn which cards to grade, costs, handling tips, and how to pre-screen.
In short: PSA is the dominant standard for football cards and commands the highest resale premiums. Chrome surfaces scratch easily, so check under angled light before submitting. AI pre-screening filters your batch down to genuine high-grade candidates in about 60 seconds per card.
Football card grading transforms raw cardboard into authenticated, encapsulated collectibles with significantly higher market value. Whether you pulled a Patrick Mahomes rookie from a hobby box or inherited a vintage Johnny Unitas collection, professional grading establishes condition, authenticity, and trust for buyers and sellers alike.
The football card market has exploded in recent years. A PSA 10 Mahomes Prizm Silver rookie regularly sells for 10-20x its raw counterpart. Even mid-grade vintage cards command premiums once slabbed. If you are sitting on football cards and wondering whether grading is worthwhile, this guide covers everything you need to know about football card grading in 2026.
Not every football card justifies the cost and wait time of professional grading. Focus your budget on cards with the highest return potential.
| Player | Key Cards | PSA 10 Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Patrick Mahomes | 2017 Prizm Silver, Optic Rated Rookie | 15-20x raw value |
| Josh Allen | 2018 Prizm Silver, Select Concourse | 10-15x raw value |
| Justin Herbert | 2020 Prizm Base, Mosaic | 8-12x raw value |
| CJ Stroud | 2023 Prizm Silver, Optic | 10-15x raw value |
| Caleb Williams | 2024 Prizm, Bowman University | 8-12x raw value |
PSA football card grading is the dominant choice for sports card collectors. PSA-graded cards consistently sell for more than their BGS or CGC equivalents on eBay and marketplace platforms, thanks to brand recognition and the largest collector base.
| Grade | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 | Gem Mint | Perfect centering, sharp corners, pristine surface, flawless edges |
| PSA 9 | Mint | One minor flaw allowed; still an exceptional card |
| PSA 8 | NM-MT | Slight corner or surface wear visible on close inspection |
| PSA 7 | Near Mint | Minor wear on corners and edges; still a clean-looking card |
| PSA 6 | EX-MT | Noticeable wear but no major creases or staining |
| PSA 1-5 | Lower grades | Typically reserved for vintage cards where any graded copy holds value |
While PSA dominates football card sales volume, Beckett Grading Services (BGS) appeals to collectors who want detailed condition breakdowns. BGS provides four subgrades: Centering, Corners, Edges, and Surface.
Learn more about BGS grading in our dedicated guide or compare all major services on our card grading companies page.
Before submitting anything, honestly assess each card's condition. Look at centering, corners, edges, and surface under good lighting. Use a loupe or magnifying glass for surface scratches and print lines.
This is where most collectors save significant money. CardGrade.io's AI grading tool uses CGI Vision AI to analyze your football cards across 47 inspection points in just 29 seconds. The system predicts PSA, BGS, and CGC grades with 92.8% accuracy, so you can identify which cards are likely PSA 9-10 candidates before spending on submissions.
You get 3 trial credits with a free 3-day trial, cancel anytime. Simply photograph your card's front and back, and CardGrade.io delivers predicted grades with detailed centering, corner, edge, and surface analysis. This eliminates the guesswork and helps you avoid wasting $80-600 per card on submissions that return disappointing grades.
Try CardGrade.io free here -- over 540+ trusted teams rely on it for pre-screening.
Visit PSA's website and register for an account if you do not have one already. You will need this to create submissions and track your orders.
| Service Level | Price (approx.) | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Value | Paused (June 2026) | Paused |
| Regular | $79.99/card | 40-50 business days |
| Express | $149.99/card | ~20 business days |
| Super Express | $299.99/card | ~10 business days |
| Walk-Through | $599.99+/card | 3-5 business days |
Prices and turnaround times are approximate and subject to change. Always verify current pricing on PSA's website.
Ship your package with tracking and insurance matching your declared value. USPS Priority Mail or UPS are common choices. PSA provides a shipping label option for some service tiers.
Track your submission through PSA's online portal. Grades appear in your account before the cards ship back.
Proper handling is critical for maximizing your football card grades. Surface scratches and corner damage are the most common reasons cards receive lower grades than expected.
Modern Panini football products dominate the hobby, and each line has specific characteristics that affect grading.
Prizm is the most collected modern football product. Its chrome finish shows every imperfection, making surface grade the most critical subgrade. Common issues include:
Optic uses a similar chrome technology to Prizm but often has slightly different centering tendencies. The rated rookie design with the large border makes centering issues more visible.
Mosaic cards feature a textured pattern that can mask minor surface imperfections but also makes centering more difficult to judge visually. The concentric square design means off-center cuts are immediately noticeable.
Hold the card at an angle under direct light and slowly tilt it. Surface scratches, print lines, and other defects become visible as the light moves across the chrome coating. This technique reveals what PSA's graders will see under their inspection lights.
Submitting football cards without pre-screening is like gambling. At $80-600 per card, a stack of 20 submissions can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars -- and disappointing grades mean you have lost money on grading fees alone.
CardGrade.io changes this equation entirely. The AI-powered platform analyzes your card photos against the same criteria professional graders use:
The process takes 29 seconds per card. Upload a photo, and CardGrade.io's CGI Vision AI returns predicted grades for PSA, BGS, and CGC along with a detailed breakdown of each grading category. This intelligence lets you:
The total cost of grading includes more than just the service fee:
| Cost Component | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| PSA service fee | $79.99-600+ per card |
| Shipping to PSA | $10-25 per submission |
| Return shipping | $10-20 per submission |
| Insurance | Varies by declared value |
| Supplies (holders, sleeves) | $0.50-1.00 per card |
PSA turnaround times have stabilized since the pandemic-era backlogs, but they still vary. PSA paused its Value tiers in June 2026, so Regular ($79.99) is now the cheapest open tier. If you need cards back quickly for selling season or a specific event, budget for Express or Super Express service.
Football card grading is one of the most effective ways to increase the value and marketability of your collection. PSA remains the gold standard for sports cards, though BGS offers meaningful advantages for detail-oriented collectors and pristine modern chrome cards.
The key to profitable grading is selectivity. Not every card deserves the investment of professional grading -- but the ones that do can return multiples of their raw value. Pre-screen your cards with CardGrade.io's free AI tool to identify your best candidates, handle your cards with care, and submit strategically based on value and urgency.
Whether you are grading a 2017 Mahomes Prizm Silver or a 1958 Topps Jim Brown, the process rewards preparation, patience, and smart decision-making. Start with your highest-value cards, learn from each submission, and build a graded collection that holds lasting value.
Ready to see which football cards are worth grading? Try CardGrade.io free today -- 3 trial credits, free 3-day trial, cancel anytime, results in 29 seconds.
PSA service tiers and pricing via PSA. Turnaround times are estimates — confirm before submitting.
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Founder, CardGrade
Jamie Budesky is the founder of CardGrade and the engineer behind its AI vision grading pipeline. An Army veteran and IT specialist (DoD, since 2017), he writes about card grading, AI/ML grading technology, and collecting strategy — grounded in CardGrade's own grading data.
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