Football newby collection - key questions for getting started

[gradedeflator]

Hi everyone,

i've been a boardmember here for awhile but mostly collecting baseball and participating on the baseball forums.

I used to collect Football cards when I was younger, and have thought about jumping back in over the last couple years but didn't pull the trigger (although all the excitement with 2012 Topps Chrome and the Luck / Griffin draft class pushed me close).

I like next year's draft class, and I'm especially biased towards the UCLA guys (Barr, Hundley if he comes out).

questions

1) what do most consider the "best" rookie cards to own of a player? for example, in baseball it's generally a player's first bowman chrome superfractor auto. is this the same in football? I know topps chrome is also popular if not moreso.

2) for patch / auto card, what is the best set to gravitate towards?

3) Why do some sets have sticker autos for certain players and on-card for others?

thanks!

appreciate any insight, like I said I'm just returning to football...

 

[Juan Gris]

1) This is highly debated but it seems to be Topps Chrome for the two you mentioned. As for the "best", see my next response.
2) Exquisite and National Treasures.
3) It's easier/cheaper for the card companies to send out sheets of stickers to have the players sign as opposed to sending out blanks of the actual cards to be signed. Another factor may be that a player has already signed a couple hundred stickers and, in order to release the auto cards in the product (and not as redemptions to be filled/replaced at a later date), the card company uses those stickers instead.

 

[gradedeflator]

Thanks Juan! Makes sense

re: question #3 , I don't think I was clear--wondering why Topps Chrome may have on-card andrew luck autos but sticker dez bryant? at least in baseball, generally consistent (for any subset, they're all on-card or not, an exception being something like TTT) I had thought TC was all on card autos but after looking at some ebay listing appears not

 

[Juan Gris]

Thanks Juan! Makes sense

re: question #3 , I don't think I was clear--wondering why Topps Chrome may have on-card andrew luck autos but sticker dez bryant? at least in baseball, generally consistent (for any subset, they're all on-card or not, an exception being something like TTT) I had thought TC was all on card autos but after looking at some ebay listing appears not

The card companies are at the mercy of the players as far as who is willing to meet a deadline for returning autographs.

 

[gradedeflator]

agreed, but at least in baseball they often just pack out redemption cards instead of rushing the cards to market with stickers.

do football products not really use redemptions?

 

[gt2590]

Football has just as many redemptions as Baseball and they are just as slow to fill. Most redemptions start filling about a month after the season.

For rookie patch/autos (RPAs) National Treasures are the most sought after and are usually out of 99.

But Upper Deck, which does NOT have a PRO football license, makes great looking patch autos in their SP Authentic product. And since you're a UCLA fan, you may enjoy those more since they are (usually) from a college jersey...

And Playoff Contenders, which comes out late in the season or even after, has the most sought after Rookie autos, most on on-card. Print runs are not released until a few weeks later, but some are made real low, even as low as 25.

 

[gradedeflator]

Thanks GT! super helpful

Football has just as many redemptions as Baseball and they are just as slow to fill. Most redemptions start filling about a month after the season.

For rookie patch/autos (RPAs) National Treasures are the most sought after and are usually out of 99.

But Upper Deck, which does NOT have a PRO football license, makes great looking patch autos in their SP Authentic product. And since you're a UCLA fan, you may enjoy those more since they are (usually) from a college jersey...

And Playoff Contenders, which comes out late in the season or even after, has the most sought after Rookie autos, most on on-card. Print runs are not released until a few weeks later, but some are made real low, even as low as 25.

 

[mrwhitesox30]

For football and basketball the rookie cards are always overpriced earlier in the season when there aren't as many out and everyone thinks they're buying the next breakout star. With a few exceptions, like when Andrew Luck did real well, most rookie cards will be much cheaper at the end of the season or years later when all cards have been issued and the couple of breakout stars have been figured out.