Im not one of the people who enjoys cards without NFL branding on them, a fact that usually prevents me from fully enjoying unlicensed cards. Since Upper Deck has taken over the CLC license, its been close to impossible to buy into any pre-rookie premiere sets, especially ones that feature rookies in close up head shots instead of airbrushed game shots.

Last year, Prestige was the first to market and followed closely by Rising Rookies, both of which featured some team logos, but no NFL uniforms. Of the two, Prestige was one of the most unusual looking and hideous sets of the year, and Rising Rookies obviously suffered from the limitations placed on it by not having the college license. For Prestige, the player pictures that were chosen looked too similar side by side, the insert sets were a visual abortion of amateur design and poor composition, and the non-auto rookie cards still had transparent team logos that made them look like someone forgot the sticker. In Rising rookies, the non-base autograph cards were quite well done, but the head shot pictures detracted from the ability to make them visually appealing. The base autographs were awful, but the addition of the sophomore autographs were some of the coolest looking second year cards of 2011.

This year, Topps has taken a page from Panini’s book and inserted plastic helmets into Bowman chrome cards to simulate NFL branded cards prior to the premiere being complete. The cards, compared to the ones with goofy close ups from Panini look much better, but its hard to get past the generic uniforms they are forced to use. This is where I wish UD didn’t have the exclusive, as these cards would have been SOOOO much better.

The first RGIII on card autographed helmet card has been posted and sold, probably as a result of the giveaways that Topps has been doing during the draft.

2012 Bowman Signature Robert Griffin III Auto Helmet RC SSP

In terms of the final price of the card, Im not surprised, and actually think it might be a bit low. In all reality, RGIII will be an SSP auto in a set that will not have much distribution. Topps has cut the production so drastically that the rare autographs may hold their value better than any pre-draft card has ever done. The Luck and RGIII autos are the first licensed ones of the year, and you can bet that the Colts and Skins collectors will fight over these cards. The problem will be that there are so few of them to go around that the supply will be far less than the demand. This will drive ridiculous prices until something different comes out, and even then, the rarity of the cards will maintain the value through the season.

Bowman Signature’s success may be inflated because of how little it is, but I sincerely hope that there is a way to make the sets more NFL focused in the future. If that means pushing back releases until June, I say that is a good idea. Why release 18 products a year with 2 before the Premiere, when you can do 14 products, all with NFL uniforms. Sometimes the bottom line drives the car.