[rjcj2017]

I suspect that the first NFL cards will still be "rookie" cards - but by then, there will be players who already have 3-4 years worth of cards - Quinn Ewers for example will have at least three years worth of cards and just about every top QB recruit now is getting NIL deals including trading cards.

But honestly, I don't see why that matters - I already got a Sage auto of C.J. Stroud - it's not his first year card - it's not going to be a "rookie" even though it's rookie year - but it's still an auto card and that is all that matters to me. 

But then, I can't even tell what is actually a rookie card in football either - they often do not list Sage as being rookie cards, but I still note that the autographs on my 2017 Mahomes cards look better than what he has been signing on his Panini autos

Yep, agreed.

Beckett could go the route of classifying the NIL stuff as prospect cards, but part of the reason they do that with Bowman Baseball is because of the "BP" prefix prior to the card number to classify them as inserts rather than base cards.

(Meaning, it gives them an 'out' to where they're not forced to designate them as RCs - but they failed to do so with 2021 Bowman's Best, creating a cluster frank where an inordinate number of prospects were numbered as regular base cards, triggering the RC designation.)

Whereas the Williams, for example, is simply base card #50 in the Bowman U set.

Crazy times, my friend.