Contenders Optic isn't just about Patrick Mahomes autos

A simple idea, a colorful parallel rainbow, a focus on autographs and some star power with the challenge of a chase are all ingredients for a winner if you pull the right guy at the right time.

The card you see above? It's one of 75 2017 Panini Contenders Optic Red autographs signed by red-hot Kansas City Chiefs QB and potential league MVP Patrick Mahomes II -- a guy who was a promising rookie with little-to-no playing time at the time of this one's arrival.

Now? In a PSA 10 slab, it was a card that sold for $5,800 in late September. Another one like it? It's at $6,500 in an active auction. And, yes, there are rarer parallels that are even pricier -- and the lower-grade copies of these are strong sellers, too.

The crazy part? The boxes (and cases) that these cards come in can still be found without breaking the bank.

Boxes of this one include more than just hits, though they aren't that meaty -- things that help out the values here some as the chase remains long. There's just one insert card, one parallel, two base cards and two autographs per box in this first Optichomed take on Contenders as a standalone product. There's at least one on-card auto per box, too, with Tribute autos re-doing past stars Rookie Tickets with this new stock.

Autos on the Tribute checklist (with parallels) include Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, Drew Brees, and LaDainian Tomlinson to name a few. Then there are All-Pro Contenders autos that include Ezekiel Elliott and Matt Ryan as well as Legendary Contenders that include Jim Kelly, Emmitt Smith, Brett Favre and Steve Young. Joining them are MVP Contenders ink from Aaron Rodgers, Ryan, Elliott, Brees, Dak Prescott, J.J. Watt, Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, Todd Gurley and Antonio Brown among others.

>>> Click here to see 2017 Panini Optic Contenders autos

But the rookies here have the biggest potential when it comes to autos -- and oh are there parallels to amp things up, too. Mitchell Trubisky, Deshaun Watson, Mahomes, Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and JuJu Smith-Schuster are notable right now -- but you never know when someone might pop up and command attention.

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