I thought the NFT craze was already over, to be honest, and the article being from July pretty much confirms this point. I agree with the op that it's one of those temporarily overhyped phases of the crypto market. But ICO was the strongest and the longest one, whereas those that followed it weren't as big and as long-lasting. They're not all bad, of course, but as a big movement which many want to join at some moment just because of the hype, it's harmful for many investors. And regarding physically backed NFTs, it's like a small branch inside a bigger movement, just like there were physically backed altcoin projects.