In 2011, Leaf released a few football products before the draft with the hope of unseating voids left by Upper Deck’s securing the CLLC license. To be completely honest, I was wholly surprised by the way the products looked, as well as the on card autos that made Press Pass and SAGE look like they were done in a high school photoshop class. Leaf will again be making pre-draft football products, and this years look to be as good if not better than last years.
There is one major drawback to all of this, and it is so major that it could have some bad ramifications to Leaf’s ability to compete in the marketplace. Andrew Luck’s autograph cannot be included in any non-NFL licensed product, as obtained directly from the player. Although Leaf can use his picture from the All American game in high school, Press Pass has exclusive rights to all other pictures and direct autographs. Leaf will be forced to use either cut autographs or other redemptions, but not hard signed airbrushed photos. This is very bad, considering that Andrew Luck is the biggest prospect in the last decade.
The cards themselves could be the best design ever, but without college aged pictures from him, I think there are going to be a good handful of collectors who will buy Press Pass instead.
That being said, I really like the design this year. I love chrome stock in just about any product, and I really like the way it is going to be used with 2012 draft. Not only that, but the content arrangement of the cards looks to be on the same level as any pre-draft product, definitely above where Panini usually comes in with Prestige after the draft. Last year, I bought Leaf Draft many more times than I even THOUGHT about buying the NFL licensed Prestige, and that says something about Brian Gray’s eye for good looking cards.
I think Leaf has a winner here in terms of the theme and composition, but time will be the true test to see if not having Luck will hurt them as much as I think it will.
Thanks for the kind words…
I feel strongly that 2012 Leaf Metal Draft is VERY strong despite the lack of Andrew Luck autographs….. I feel strongly about this for several reasons:
1> Press Pass’s draft cards look terrible. Because of terrible legal settlements they made in fear of CLC, they cannot picture the player in any reasonable way. Shoulder pads up with solid color uniforms will never look like “real” football cards. The players look like popcicles or lollipops.
2> While we are including Andrew Luck low numbered Army Metal cards, I can honestly say that Luck not having autographs is hardly fatal. The fact is: LUCK HAS NEVER WON ANYTHING. I agree he is a very solid prospect, however the gap between Luck and RG3 is far more narrow than most believe.
The fact is, if you are going to hit one Luck autograph per 20 boxes, you will have to spend $2000+ to hit one. When you can buy a Metal Football case at $650-700, you can easily afford to open 2 cases of the superior design/value product PLUS have the money left to buy even the lowest number autographed parallels of the Press Pass Luck autographs.
3> Lastly, US ARMY METAL TOUR AUTOS…. These will MORE than make up the value of not having LUCK autos… It was only 3 years ago, Luck was the star of this HS All-American Game.. What if he had Metal autos 3-4 years ago???? What if Tebow had for that matter??? Thats the rare chance you will get with Gunner Kiel, Barry Sanders Jr and more… This 20 card on-card metal pre-ncaa autograph set will absolute yield more long term value than the one omitted card.
With all this being said, it will be interesting to see if people will rush out to spend $2000+ on a case to hit an Andrew Luck autograph. If so, Press Pass’ “bet the farm” gamble might even pay off.
However, as someone who has been around the block and made “bet the farm” gambles before, I think this was a bad move.
Regardless, football card fans can rejoice… Press Pass has fired the first shot in what will be a WAR between pre-draft companies to fight to sign players exclusively next year…
The result… collectors lose…
But, whats new…. Since when have manufacturers cared about whats best for the consumer….
OH, wait… I still care….
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts…
Brian Gray, CEO Leaf Trading Cards
I appreciate your professional breakdown. I think it is well thought out, as it should be.
RG3 and Trent Richardson will carry it, and Luck’s presence (Army card or no Army card) will soften the blow, but the design will help tremendously. I love the look, and I think that will keep Leaf above Press Pass, Sage, and even UD in a lot of cases. It has the look of a great product, and from the feedback I got in Chicago and in the local shops, that makes a huge difference. When the cards look cheap like Press Pass did last year and again this year, its not a good thing for comparison battles.
Bottom line, I have always hated exclusives, regardless of if it is an exclusive of league, player, or otherwise. Loyalty should be earned on the foundation of great products, not forced by exclusives that prevent competition.
Kudos to Leaf for another terrific design. I remain impressed at how well 2011 Leaf Ultimate and Leaf Draft maintained their values on the secondary market. That’s a testament to the solid design, high-end card-stock, and attention to detail like sharp-cut corners and well centered cards. Over all the quality of their 2011 product outperformed Press Pass and Sage by a mile in my opinion.
Can’t wait to pull some Baylor players but I am not excited about the fact that every ass-clown out there will be trying to collect my boy, RGIII. Going to be tough to super-collect him. That being said, I will trade anyone my Andrew Lucks for their RGIIIs.
By the way, I LOVE the fact that Brian is personally commenting on hobby-related articles. Makes me that much more willing to support the Leaf brand.
Agreed.
Kudos, Brian. It’s very refreshing to have one of the head honchos weigh in about their product. Although Leaf doesn’t currently have the hobby muscle of the other guys (Topps, Panini, UD), I feel that with efforts like this years Metal there’s a VERY good chance of Leaf stealing some collectors away from those guys in the near future, if not this year. The ONLY thing I don’t like about Metal is the script used for the name on the front. I could care less about Luck not being included as far as auto’s go.
On a side note, can anyone else imagine the venom that would be spewed if Tracy Hackler came in saying the same things as Brian Gray? Get the torches & pitch forks!!
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