Warren Moon's rookie card arrived after he had already won five championships. By the time 1985 Topps #251 reached packs, Moon had spent six seasons in Canada, taken the Edmonton Eskimos to five Grey Cups, and finished his first NFL season by breaking the Houston Oilers' single-season passing record. PSA has graded 5,998 copies of the card. Eighty-eight are Gem Mint 10s.

The card is #251 in the 1985 Topps football set, and PSA's record for it carries both the rookie and Hall of Fame designations. It is a close-up: Moon in a white Oilers helmet with red and light-blue stripes, a red facemask and a white jersey, against a blue sky. The right side of the card is a black panel with "MOON" in tall white letters running down it, "WARREN" boxed across the middle, and "OILERS" spelled out in a light-blue strip. The copy pictured is a PSA Gem Mint 10, cert 02027958.

Six Years in Edmonton

Before the 1978 draft, some NFL scouts questioned whether the University of Washington quarterback fit a traditional drop-back offense, the Pro Football Hall of Fame writes, and "existing prejudices of the time" led some evaluators to suggest he switch positions. "Rather than risk a fall in the 1978 NFL Draft," the Hall says, Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

He stayed six seasons, 1978 through 1983. Edmonton won the Grey Cup five times in that span, Moon was the Grey Cup's MVP twice, in 1980 and 1982, and in 1983 the CFL named him its Most Outstanding Player. His Canadian totals, per the Hall: 21,228 passing yards and 144 touchdowns.

The Season Behind the Card

Moon signed with the Houston Oilers in 1984. In 16 games that first season he threw for 3,338 yards, an Oilers single-season record, with 12 touchdowns. It is the season his rookie card follows.

The rest came in Houston's run-and-shoot. In 1990 Moon was the Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year, leading the league with 362 completions, 4,689 yards and 33 touchdown passes. In 1991 he set what were then NFL single-season records for attempts (655) and completions (404). When he left Houston after 1993, he held the franchise's six best single-season passing yardage totals.

He kept going. Traded to Minnesota in 1994, he set Vikings records for passing yards that season and for touchdown passes, 33, in 1995. At 41, with Seattle in 1997, he led the NFL in passing yards per game and made another Pro Bowl. He was picked for nine in all, with three different teams.

Moon finished with 49,325 NFL passing yards and 291 touchdowns over 17 seasons, after six in Canada. His career, the Hall notes, overlapped with the final season of Fran Tarkenton's and the first season of Tom Brady's. He was enshrined in Canton with the Class of 2006.

PSA Population Report

PSA GradePopulation
PSA 1088
PSA 9905
PSA 82,731
Total Graded (All Grades)5,998

* Population data as of October 22, 2026. PSA population counts are dynamic and increase as more cards are submitted for grading.

A Curve That Peaks at 8

The card's population is built high. PSA 8 is the most common grade by a wide margin, and more than three of every five graded copies are an 8 or better:

  • PSA 10: 88
  • PSA 9: 905
  • PSA 8: 2,731
  • PSA 7: 1,377
  • PSA 6: 659
  • PSA 5: 168
  • PSA 4: 47
  • PSA 3: 14
  • PSA 2: 4
  • PSA 1: 2

Three more are encapsulated Authentic, which completes the 5,998.

The top of the curve is crowded beyond the straight grades, too. PSA has issued 172 half grades on the card, 128 of them 8.5s, and 75 qualified grades, 48 of them qualified 8s. A qualified grade is PSA's grade for a card with one specific flaw, noted on the label beside the number. With the half and qualified grades counted, PSA has slabbed 6,245 copies.

Eighty-eight of them are 10s, about one in every 68 straight-graded copies. The pictured slab is one of them.

Verdict: Moon's rookie card shows an Oilers quarterback who already had five Grey Cups and a team passing record. Seventeen NFL seasons later he had 49,325 yards and a place in Canton. His card grades well, with a population that peaks at PSA 8, and 88 of 5,998 graded copies are PSA 10s.