It’ll be a tough act to follow, but the 2013 NFL rookie class that will emerge when the draft takes place next week will hope to keep 2012’s momentum going. Among the first of the current year’s football card products out of the gate is 2013 Upper Deck Football, which is making its way into the market right now. Not all of them may stick on NFL rosters, but Upper Deck has jammed the product with dozens of rookies including Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, Manti Te’o, Montee Ball, Tyler Wilson, Mike Glennon, Eddie Lacy, Giovani Bernard, Cordarrelle Patterson, Denard Robinson, Tyler Eifert and others. Two to three ‘Star Rookies’ are included in every pack.
Each pack will contain six cards and each box will have 20 packs so you’ll need to buy multiple boxes to complete a base set.
Expanded Rookie Checklist
“Collectors have really been after trading card companies to go deeper on their checklists in early season products in order to not miss players who jump on the scene and have a big impact like Alfred Morris and Doug Martin last season,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck’s collegiate sports brand manager. “With 200 different rookies, we’ve got all the big names covered along with those rookies with the potential to become breakout stars that speculators will have a keen interest in. It will be fun as the season progresses and fans go back to their boxes of 2013 Upper Deck Football to find rookie cards of those surprise players that came out of nowhere to take the pros by storm.
Limited Redemptions
Upper Deck’s Athlete Relations team has been busy over the last few weeks conducting signing sessions with all these rookies and the product packed out with 99.8% of autograph content live in packs. Many of these autograph cards are signed on card in the form of Rookie Letterman cards and Ultimate Collection autograph rookie cards. There are less than 100 total redemption cards in the product and 15 of those are special redemption cards good for an autograph version of the “Star Rookie” set (up to 200 total autograph cards potentially).
Inserts
Collectors can also find iconic football legends like Barry Sanders and Joe Namath in the “Football Heroes” set (1:10 packs) that first debuted with the company’s 1991 football launch when Joe Montana was the subject.
The “College Mascot” manufactured patch subset returns with the 60-card set designed to add onto onto last season’s collection with more popular mascots from throughout college football. Just like last year there will be short-printed versions.
Upper Deck pays tribute to the 1995 SP Authentic set with Prospect autograph cards. High-end collectors can look for hard-signed, crash-numbered Ultimate Collection rookie cards in the product as well.
You can click here to see what’s available on eBay and download the final checklist below.
2013-Upper-Deck-Football-Final-Checklist
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