By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

Topps released 2012 Turkey Red Football this week – an online-only product. The product shipped over the last couple of days with collectors finding autographs, minis, printing plates and photo variations.

The photo variations were seemingly a surprise. In the preview, Topps didn’t announce there would be different pictures for some of the cards, but it didn’t take long for dealers and collectors to spot the differences.

So far, we’ve spotted 10 football rookies with photo variations. The first card in the picture is what we presume to the photo variation and the second card is the base. However, as more information comes out, this could change.

Here is what we have so far, and we will update the gallery if more variations pop up.

Kendall Wright

David Wilson

Trent Richardson

Robert Griffin III

Doug Martin

Ryan Tannehill

Brandon Weeden

Justin Blackmon

Andrew Luck

Michael Floyd

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow Beckett Media on Facebook and Twitter.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

Between turkey, stuffing and Black Friday sales, Topps released 2012 Triple Threads Football last Friday.

For many, the anticipation for the high-end product was high. What names would be used for the 2012 Rookies? What combination would end up on cards together?

An interesting aspect of Triple Threads has been the White Whales, printing plates but with a different name.

Printing plate are collectible as 1-of-1 anyway, but giving it a name synonymous with elusiveness seems to add a different aspect.

Here’s a look at several popular White Whales on eBay right now – Check out some of these prices.

- 2012 Triple Threads Brock Osweiler auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Andrew Luck auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Kendall Wright auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Jerry Rice auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Doug Martin auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Trent Richardson auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Justin Blackmon auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads A.J. Green auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads David Wilson auto/patch

Here were a several auctions of White Whales that didn’t sell
- 2012 Triple Threads Eli Manning auto/jersey
- 2012 Triple Threads Trent Richardson auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Robert Griffin III auto/patch
- 2012 Triple Threads Nick Foles auto/jersey

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

There’s something new this week with 2012 Topps Triple Threads – oversized autographed handprint cards.

Not new to Topps, but certainly a new element in football that will be included in one of Topps’ high-end products.

“We put a special Cal Ripken “Touched by Greatness” card in Archives Baseball that created much buzz,” Topps said in a press release. “The card included Cal’s autograph as well an impression of his actual inked handprint. We are now ready to blow this idea up and go Prime Time with our NFL products.”

Collectors can get these cards by finding a redemption in Triple Threads packs.

The subjects of these cards are all rookies, and here is the checklist:
- Andrew Luck
– Robert Griffin III
– Justin Blackmon
– Brandon Weeden
– Ryan Tannehill
– Trent Richardson
– Michael Floyd

Triple Threads is the first NFL product to feature the handprint autographed cards, but it won’t be the last. The cards will also be in 2012 Topps Supreme, Valor and Five Star.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

There was a lot of extra football this week with three games going into overtime on Sunday, which led to some inflated statistics.

However, many of the best teams pulled ahead solidifying their spots in the league.

Let’s look at the awards for Week 11.

Veteran of the Week
Matt Schaub, QB, Houston Texas: Schaub was one of the players who wound up in overtime, but he out-threw the rest of the quarterbacks in the league this week by about 170 yards. The veteran completed 43-of-55 passes for 527 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in a 43-37 win over Jacksonville in over time.

Chase cards
2004 Absolute Memorabilia Signature Material #SM20 /280
2004 Bowman Chrome refractors #114
2004 Finest #132 AU RC /999

Rookie of the Week
Justin Blackmon, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars: Blackmon had a career-game in just his first year in the league. He took advantage of a high-scoring affair and caught seven passes for 236 yards and a touchdown in a 43—37 loss to Houston in overtime.

Blackmon has been considered a rookie with a lot of upside. Fans got to see just how good he could be on Sunday.

Chase cards
2012 Rookies and Stars #219 JSY AU RC /499
2012 Bowman Accolades Autographs #BACAJB
2012 Elite Series Rookies Gold #4 /149

Breakout Performance of the Week
LaRod Stephens-Howling, RB, Arizona Cardinals: Stephens-Howling has just two games of more than 100 rushing yards in his four years in the league. Both of those games came this season, including on Sunday.

The 2009 seventh-round draft pick ran for 127 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries in a 23-19 loss to Atlanta.

Chase cards
2009 Playoff National Treasures #166 AU RC /99
2009 SP Authentic #203 /999
2009 SPx #201 /799

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

Topps’ 2012 complete football factory set released last week into retail and hobby shops.

Each box came with 440 base cards, including all the top rookie and veterans. The factory sets also come with different bonuses. But that could be one of four things depending on the box you find.

The most common – which was on the original sell sheet – is a five-card pack of numbered orange parallel cards. But it’s not the only type of factory set floating out there.

Each box clearly labels the front that specifies the bonus.

1. Orange-parallel packs
2. Five-card rookie photo variations
3. Andrew Luck manu-patch
4. Robert Griffin III manu-patch

Of course, collectors enjoy parallels, but the rookie variations could be some of the most popular cards to come out of the factory sets.

The five rookies are Luck, Griffin, Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon and Doug Martin.

Here are the five rookie photo variations cards that appear in the factory set.

Trent Richardson

Justin Blackmon

Doug Martin

Robert Griffin III

Andrew Luck

In addition, here’s a peak at the factory manufactured patch cards for RG3 and Luck.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

Before you rip open packs in 2012 Bowman Sterling Football, collectors should take a look at the box toppers. There are opportunities to get oversized autographed cards of the top players from the 2012 NFL Draft.

There will be up to five oversized (4”x 5.5”) cards with four rookie autographs and patches.

Other box toppers include Jumbo Rookie Patches, which will fall one per box.

That’s just how Sterling will start, which will come out in December, but what about the middle and the end?

If collectors keep ripping, they’ll find six packs in every box with five cards per pack. Every pack will have three Rookie Cards, one rookie autograph and one jumbo rookie or veteran relic.

Every box will yield four rookie autographs, one rookie autograph relic, one rookie autograph patch card, five jumbo rookie or veteran relic cards, and one jumbo patch rookie or veteran. Case breakers can look for a Prism Refractor Dual Autographed Relic card.

Some of the names on the big hits include Alshon Jeffery, Andrew Luck, Brandon Weeden, Coby Fleener, David Wilson, Justin Blackmon, LaMichael James, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill and Trent Richardson.

The base set will consist of 100 Rookie Cards. Parallels for these include Blue Refractor (#’d to 99), Black Refractor (#’d to 75), Gold Refractor (#’d to 50), Prism Refractor (#’d to 25), Superfractor (1/1) and unframed Printing Plates (1/1).

There will also be up to 10 cards made of Sterling Silver of some of the top rookies (these cards are 1/1).

Up to 60 base subjects will be featured in an autograph parallel set with six variations: Blue Refractor (#’d to 99), Black Refractor (#’d to 50), Gold Refractor (#’d to 25), Prism Refractor (#’d to 15), Superfractor (1/1) and Printing Plates (1/1).

The Autographed Rookie Relics will have up to 40 subjects on the checklist with five variations: Blue Refractor Patch Relic (#’d to 99), Gold Refractor Patch Relic (#’d to 55), Prism Refractor Patch Relic (#’d to 30), Superfractor Patch Relic (1/1) and Printing Plate Patch Relics (1/1).

When considering Sterling this year, it’s not just about one autograph. It seems as though Topps is really putting together cards with multiple autos.

The dual signed cards will have up to 10 pairs of a combinations of veterans and rookies. These cards will be numbered to 25. There are also dual autographed patch relic cards, which are numbered to just five.

There are also triple signed cards (#’d to 10), quadruple signed cards (#’d to 5) and cards with six autographs (#’d to 10). These checklists will have up to five cards and will also have patch variations that are numbered to 5.

Relic cards will play a prominent role in Sterling.

There will be one Jumbo Relic card per box and all cards will sequentially numbered.

The Jumbo Veteran Relics will have to 15 subjects with six parallels: Blue Refractor (#’d to 75), Black Refractor (#’d to 50), Gold Refractor Patch (#’d to 25), Prism Refractor Patch (#’d to 15), Superfractor Patch (1/1) and Printing Plate Patch (1/1).

Jumbo Rookie Relics are going to get a similar treatment. Up to 40 subjects on this checklist and, again, all cards will be sequentially numbered. The parallels include Blue Refractor (#’d to 99), Black Refractor Patch (#’d to 75), Gold Refractor Patch (#’d to 60), Prism Refractor Patch (#’d to 35), Superfractor Patch (1/1) and Printing Plate Patch (1/1).

Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Football magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

Football season for trading cards is really going to kick up in August.

Another product on the schedule is Panini Momentum, which is currently scheduled for Aug. 29, and it will include many of the top rookies.

Momentum is on the higher-end scale of Panini America products. There are 10 packs per box with three cards in each pack, which should include at least an autograph or memorabilia card. Hobby boxes have a pre-sale price of around $200 right now.

In every box, collectors can expect one Momentum Rookie Signature RPS (an autograph card with three memorabilia swatches), three to four rookie autographs and five to six memorabilia cards. Base cards will have four printing plate parallels.

There will be at least two autographs of players such as Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon, Ryan Tannehill, Michael Floyd, Kendall Wright, Brandon Weeden, A.J. Jenkins, Doug Martin and David Wilson in each case. There will also be at last one auto of Brian Quick, Coby Fleener, Stephen Hill, Alshon Jeffery, Isaiah Peed, Ryan Broyles, Brock Osweiler, LaMichael James and Rueben Randle.

One of the highlighted inserts is STUDS – meaning earring studs. These cards will feature embedded diamonds of players who are well know for the jewelry.

When it comes to autograph, Souvenir Signatures is one of the top subsets. It will include current and former stars, although checklist has not been provided yet.

Here’s a look at the different memorabilia cards:

・ Double Feature Materials will take two common players from current and past teams such as Dez Bryant and Miles Austin from the Dallas Cowboys. These cards will also come double prime, triple and triple prime variations.
・ Head of the Class Materials include player-worn memorabilia of player’s from this year’s draft. Head of Class will also feature combos, triples and quads.
・ Rookies aren’t the only ones getting memorabilia card treatment. Momentum Materials will use stars of the past such as John Elway.

Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Football magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor

The sophomore campaign of Prime Signatures Football is getting a few upgrades from Panini America.

The configuration will remain the same with one autograph in every four-card pack, and just one pack per box.

Panini has added new elements to 2012 Prime Signatures, including rare jumbo prime materials rookie-signed inserts and Pen Pals, a multi-autograph insert set.

Many of these new pieces will feature the most-hyped rookies of the coming season: Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Justin Blackmon.

The Rookie Card autographs will be numbered to 199 or less.

One of the highlights seems to be Greatest Combo Signatures. These are dual autographs of some of the NFL’s greatest players numbered to 10 or less. While these cards will be a tough pull, think about getting Bo Jackson and Tim Brown on the same card (as pictured).

Here’s a look at some of the other inclusions in Prime Signatures:
・ Rookie Prime Materials – On-card autographs and swatches of event-worn jerseys numbered to 99 or less. There are also 1/1 printing plate parallels of these cards.
・ Rookie Extreme Prime Materials Jumbo – On-card autos of with a jumbo swatch of an event-worn jersey, numbered to 99 or less. There are event-worn NFL Shield versions that are 1/1.
・ Combo Rookie Signatures – Dual signed cards with some of the top 2012 rookies numbered to 25 or less. Triple Rookie Signatures will also be numbered to 25 or less.

The Pen Pals insert was shown off during the NFLPA Rookie Premiere. Some of the 35 rookies there signed different versions of these cards that will feature two, three, four, six or eight signatures. There are 18 different cards in the Pen Pals insert set.

Prime Signatures is scheduled to come out in October, which is different than last year’s release, which only came out in early Spring. The product was developed as a re-imagined upgrade of the 2002 Playoff Prime Signatures.

While there is not more information available for this year’s set, last year’s Prime Signatures included a 261-base set and 86 rookies (Need a 2011 Prime Signatures OPG or checklist? Click here).

We’ll update information on 2012 Prime Signatures as it becomes available.

Susan Lulgjuraj is a contributing editor for Beckett Media. You can email Susan here. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Andrew Tolentino | Football Editor | Commentary

I’m not going to lie. These are some of the sweetest football cards (mocks of football cards, at least) I’ve seen in a while.

Making Monday a little more manic, Topps debuted its 2012 Strata football line, boldly noting its promise “to deliver the most cutting-edge technology collectors have ever seen.” But before everybody gets their panties in a wad, neither video screens nor other gadget gimmicks are involved here. Just old-fashioned cardboard with some dramatic die-cut twists and printing surface surprises.

Slated for a late-October release (the week of Oct. 22), Strata is seeded with 18 packs per box and 12 boxes per case. Each pack contains six 2012 Topps Strata Signatures base cards and carries some serious pulling potential.

On-average Box Promises:

• One Clear Cut Autograph Relic
• One Rookie Autograph
• One Rookie Relic
• One Rookie Die-cut

On-average Case Promises:

• One Strata Signature Relic Rookie Card
• Three Clear Cut  Autograph Patch Rookie Cards
• Three Rookie Patch cards

Base set bolsters:

• 100 veterans and 50 rookies and various parallels
  • Bronze (numbered to 150, hobby only)
  • Gold (numbered to 99, hobby only)
  • Blue (numbered to 50, hobby only)
  • Green (numbered to 10, hobby only)
  • Red (1/1, hobby only)
  • Printing plate (1/1, hobby only)

The autograph insert name Clear Cut seems pretty straightforward. Great, acetate. I get it. But think deeper. Think about those old encyclopedia pages dedicated to human anatomy.

Falling one per box, these cards showcase enormous jumbo jersey swatches — apparently, the largest that can be “tolerated within a card (measuring 2.875 inches x 1.875 inches)” — underneath a transparent card front with the featured player’s image and autograph. Collectors who can’t resist the urge to touch can get still get their fix with a die-cut window designed for feeling the Relic.  These dimensional delights come in multiple variations, falling three Autograph Patch parallels per case.

• Bronze (numbered to 150)
• Gold (numbered to 99)
• Blue Patch (numbered to 75, hobby only)
• Green Patch (numbered to 55, hobby only)
• Red Patch (numbered to 30, hobby only)
• Platinum Spikes (1/1 featuring cleat Relics, hobby only)
• Platinum Gloves (1/1, hobby only)
• Platinum RG3 Socks (1/1, hobby only)
• Platinum Patch (1/1, hobby only)

The Clear Cut insert also comes in Dual Autograph Relic Rookie Patch booklet forms, including tandems like — you guessed it — Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. The super rare book cards should showcase up to 10 subjects in total and are one-of-one hobby exclusives.

One-per-case Strata Signature Relics continue the theme of depth with a three-layer look.

• Layer one: Jumbo jersey swatches
• Layer two: Die-cut cardboard frames with player portraits
• Layer three: Transparent surfaces with player closeups and autographs (some stickers, some hard-signed)

Perhaps taking notes from Panini America’s popular Crown Royale Rookie Silhouettes line, these cards come limited to 35 and appear in two parallel variations. Patch parallels feature jersey patches and are numbered to 15. Rarer (numbered to five) Rivet Patch parallels showcase jersey patches and rivets, allowing collectors to actually fan out all three layers of the card — ridiculous, in a good way.

After you’ve seen one of those Rivet Patch cards in action, regular one-per-box Rookie Autographs suddenly seem less impressive, depending on the player of course. For the collector praying to the one-of-one gods, Strata offers a Quad Rookie Autograph book card with RG3, Luck, Trent Richardson, and Justin Blackmon. Single-player Rookie Autographs feature up to 50 subjects paralleled by different levels of rarity.

• Bronze (numbered to 150)
• Gold (numbered to 99)
• Blue (numbered to 75)
• Green (numbered to 50)
• Red (numbered to 25)
• Platinum (1/1, hobby only)

Rookie Relic cards from Strata feature 40 subjects and their respective jersey swatches. Hobby-only parallels include:

• Bronze (numbered to 150)
• Gold (numbered to 99)
• Blue Patch (numbered to 75)
• Green Patch (numbered to 55)
• Red Patch (numbered to 30)
• Platinum Patch (1/1)

From autographs to inserts, die-cuts and special printing processes appear to take precedent in Strata. In due time, we’ll find out just how much the cutting-edge technology means to collectors. Stay tuned to Beckett.com for more preview images and other details as they become available. In the meanwhile, enjoy the picture show.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

You can see Bryce Harper at the 2012 National Sports Collectors Convention.

On Topps baseball cards, that is.

On Wednesday, the company unveiled its plans for the NSCC, which is set for Aug. 1-5 in Baltimore and they will include a pair of wrapper redemption programs featuring an entire card set for one program and a mix of NFL and MLB rookies in the other. (Need a Harper checklist or OPG? Click here.)

The first will be a Bowman Platinum box redemption. Anyone who opens a box of 2012 Bowman Platinum at the Topps booth will receive a 25-card serial-numbered 2012 Bowman Platinum Blue Parallel set. These will include Harper, Yu Darvish and randomly include autographs as well. (Need a Darvish checklist or OPG? Click here.)

A second wrapper redemption program will be for one of nine 2012 Gypsy Queen mini cards made specifically for the show. Any collector opening three packs of any 2012 Topps or Bowman MLB or NFL pack will receive a single card from the set. It will include Harper, Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes and NFL rookies Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Trent Richardson, Michael Floyd and Justin Blackmon.

Could the GQ cards of NFL players be a precursor to or a test to see whether the retro brand should extend to the NFL? We’ll have to wait and see …

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.