This was the week of the NFL Rookie Premiere. Even though Upper Deck on has a college license, they still were present. This year they were doing college photos and getting jerseys worn so they can place them into their own products. The photos released by Beckett and Upper Deck do pose some potentially concerning issues with collectors and shed light onto where some of these swatches come from.

The normal photos we see are ones of players all in uniform that they are taking photos in. They are what they wear for the photos and seen when signing autographs much like this one of Toby Gerhart.

Here he is signing for what appears to be Panini in full uniform, with pads. This is what collectors are used to seeing from over the years in Beckett Magazine.

However, these have been released from Upper Deck’s own Facebook and could pose a potential issue to some collectors. Personally, I have really tried to stay away from jersey cards over the years in general and especially Rookie Premiere Event Worn ones since they may have been worn for a minute. There was even an “Outside the Lines” piece on this part of the industry years ago.

Players are wearing jerseys that are not even theirs. This may not be too uncommon actually since we have known for years that throwback jerseys are worn. However, in their defense, some college jersey of players may be hard to obtain and game cut ones, even harder. Theses jerseys seem to just be normal retail jerseys available at a local sporting goods store or the campus bookstore.

Here Armanti Edwards is wearing a game issued and potentially worn jersey from some teammate.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

However, the more concerning issue to me are the logos. That is what collectors want and it appears Upper Deck found a way to give collectors more of them.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

That is CJ Spiller wearing a number 3 (Willy Korn) retail jersey. No big deal? Notice the two Tiger Paws on his sleeve. They purposely added another to get some more patches. One thing is that the smaller one appears to be a sewn on one, which Clemson does not use.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

Tim Tebow is actually wearing his jersey, but Upper Deck has added three more logos to it, one of which is not even used by Florida.

Lastly, Joe McKnight is featured in a jersey of teammate and fellow Rookie Premiere attendee, Damian Williams.

photo courtesy of Beckett

This is much like the Gerhart photo that we are accustomed to. However, Upper Deck needed to do something to get letters for Letterman cards that have become big in the industry. Whereas USC does not use nameplates, they safety pinned one onto his jersey. These photos share with collectors where those swatches we like really come from.

One good thing though about Rookie Premiere weekend is that we get to see some finished products that we can look for in the near future. Upper Deck appears to have their Sweet Spot cards signed and now ready for their first collegiate release in the coming months. Here is a Jonathan Dwyer Sweet Spot auto with an inscription. It appears, at least early on, that this product will be a good looking product in hand for collectors.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

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