Top Walter Payton Cards to Collect
Known simply as “Sweetness,” Walter Payton was the prototype for what a team looked for in a running back for nearly two decades. Until he was supplanted by other greats, such as Emmitt Smith, he broke just about every consequential record the league held up to that point and still holds a handful of records that probably won’t be broken anytime soon. He could do it all – he would be fed the ball 25+ times on the ground and through the air regularly, he would throw touchdowns, and defenses would key on him so hard he would enable the rest of the offense to shine. Look no further than the no.2 ranked 1985 Bears offense as an overlooked and perfect example.
Payton was the ultimate workhorse in a brutally physical era that was far more ground-focused than future offenses enjoyed. He was also the poster boy for being everything you want in the face of your organization. He’s the namesake, obviously, for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award and dominated in an era in which Topps Football could celebrate him with a ridiculous amount of cards.
These are just a few of the awesome pulls you can collect.
Top Walter Payton Cards
1978 Topps Football Cards #3 Payton Rushes for 275 Yards
Player info
• 275 yds rushing now the third-most ever in a game – behind Corey Dillon’s 278 and Adrian Peterson’s 296
• 1977 League MVP, OPOY, Man of the Year, all-pro
Set info
• 528 card base set
• Subsets include: highlights, League leaders, team leaders, and playoffs
card back
• a classic-looking faux newspaper clipping reporting on the November 20th, 1977 game when Payton rushed for 275 yards against the Vikings, and the Bears won 10-7.
1976 Topps Football Cards #148 Walter Payton Rookie Card
Player info
• Member of the 1970s All-Decade Team
• Second-most career rushing yards in history: 16,726
Card info
• 528 card set
• The Payton RC is one of the most prized cards in the set
card back
• vitals, 1975 season stats, a short recap of his “outstanding” rookie season (in which Payton led the NFL in kickoff return yards), and a “mystery bear” trivia question
1978 Topps Football #200 Walter Payton
Player info
• 1977 league rushing and rushing TDs leader
• 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
Card info
• 1978 set includes five Payton-centric cards including: base card, payton rushes for 275 yards, rushing leaders, scoring leaders, and bears leaders
card back
• Vitals, career stats to that point, and a recap of his 1977 MVP year, as well as a fun fact that payton was a finalist in a dance contest in college
1986 Topps Football #9 Bears Leaders
Player info
• Super Bowl XX winner
• Didn’t score a TD in the Super Bowl, which coach Mike Ditka said: “The greatest regret I ever had was when Walter didn’t score a touchdown in the Super Bowl.”
Card info
• 396 card set, including 1000-yard club inserts
1979 Topps Football #335 Record Breaker – Walter Payton
Player info
• set the record with 385 touches in a season (since broken by 13 other players with 5 being hall of famers)
• Most yards from scrimmage in back-to-back games in history: 525
Card info
• 528 total card set
card back
• a write-up of the significance of this record at the time, which broke Lydell Mitchell’s 1973 record of 373 touches
1988 Topps Football #5 Record Breaker – Walter Payton
Player info
• Holds the record for the most Passing touchdowns by a non-quarterback since the AFL-NFL merger: 8
• Holds the record for Consecutive regular season starts by a running back: (170) December 7, 1975 to September 20, 1987
Card info
• 396 total cards
• Three insert sets: 1000-yard club (featuring 26 players) and wax bottom panels and singles
card back
• a write-up about payton retiring after the 1987 season after setting the career rushing TD record of 110, topping the 106 by Jim Brown, while payton (at the time) also held the career rushing yards record
1977 Topps Football #360 Walter Payton
Player info
• Holds the record for Most seasons with 300+ rushing attempts: (10) 1976–1986
• Holds the record for Most games with 35+ rushing attempts, career: (7) 1976–1984
Card info
• 528 total card set
• Payton also featured alongside AFC rushing leader OJ Simpson on the “rushing leaders” card
card back
• vitals, career stats to that point, college career factoid (leading point scorer in NCAA history), and four stat facts about his 1976 season: leading rusher in the NFC, three consecutive 100-yard rushing games, had seven 100-yard rushing games that season, and was 1975 kickoff return yard leader
1985 Topps Football #6 Record Breaker – Walter Payton
Player info
• 9x pro bowl
• 5x all-pro and 3x second team all-pro
Card info
• 396 card set
• Set included glossy NFL stars, wax bottom panels, singles, and “yearbooks coming soon!” cards
card back
• a look at payton breaking the most rushing yards in a career record at the time with 13,309 yards, topping Jim brown’s old record of 12,312
