Can I tell you a quick story about a Colt McCoy football card?

Colt McCoy didn't have a good day on Sunday, making just this third NFL start of the last five years -- it ended with 119 yards, a pick, two fumbles and six sacks against the reigning Super Bowl champs -- but it was enough to remind me of an old story that I don't think has ever been told before.

Or, if it has, I totally missed it ... so work with me here.

It was a decade ago when McCoy was finishing up his second season of being a top-three guy in Heisman voting -- a star for the Texas Longhorns where he threw 27 touchdowns as a senior, upping his career total to 112 (to just 45 picks) in four years, ending his career with 13,253 yards and a collection of awards and team records that might even make Nick Saban blush.

But when it came to signing autographs after all that? Well, he was still a rookie and his 2010 Panini Prestige Pro Helmets Autograph card shows how.

How those cards look in everyday life is how they are supposed to, an autograph with a Longhorns-era mugshot -- 100 percent fresh at the time -- alongside his autograph and then the helmet of his new NFL team embedded into the card, which was one of his first -- if not the first -- showing him with the Cleveland Browns.

His latest NFL start made me wonder about one of these cards, though -- just to see whether whispers of a story I heard years ago were true. These cards aren't all that plentiful today and can still be pricey despite his Cleveland days being some 15 starting QBs ago. After I found one, I opted to do something that I've never done ... even when I've landed a mangled memorabilia card in a pack or lot -- I've never popped out the swatch or inlay to see what was going on underneath.

This time, it was worth it. (Keep reading and scrolling.)

As you can see above, I used a small screwdriver tip to lift up an edge of the rubber Browns helmet, which was surprisingly stiffly affixed but still removable without any tearing or card-damage caused. It took a second and a couple wiggles for the surprise to reveal itself, but there it was ... just as I had heard long ago.

You see, how you view these cards now is not how these looked when McCoy signed them, which was before the 2010 NGL Draft. When presented with his box of cards needing ink, he went to work like he did on everything else, adding his nine letters to his cards in a clean, swift hand ... but in the wrong spot. He mistakenly signed in the helmet window and Panini America had to send them back to him to sign in the proper place. These cards were not reprinted because of time schedules as they still had to be released with 32 others in the set. (I'm not sure if that product had any delays in Prestige's release date but sometimes it can be stuff just like this -- or countless other reasons -- why a product might be a day or two late getting into stores. This just might be a fun one where you can see the proof.)

The adhesive used to affix the helmet is still very, very sticky and its oil in contact with the rubber has soaked up the original autograph for the most part, but you can still easily see where the rookie mistake happened all those years ago.

If you have one of these cards, you don't need to pull apart your card like I did -- it will be there. Trust me. As for my card? Well, I could easily re-affix the helmet, but instead I'll put it in a penny sleeve and top-load it right beside my revelation card and put both of them away in my autograph stash, well worth the few bucks I paid to bring this tale to you.

With McCoy getting some playing time I figured this might be the time to tell this tale of a card with a little hidden treasure inside -- or at least a card with a little extra story to it.

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