The first truly licensed set of 2014 has arrived, and though UD Football isnt sanctioned by the NFL, it will carry value with college collectors looking to buy their school’s players. Personally, I think this set should have been out much earlier to compete with unlicensed products, but UD doesnt seem to concern themselves with that.
I am pretty happy with the design this year, more than previous years:
2014 Upper Deck Johnny Manziel On Card Auto
2014 Upper Deck Johnny Manziel Letterman Auto
2014 Upper Deck Teddy Bridgewater On Card Auto
2014 Upper Deck Blake Bortles Auto SSP
2014 Upper Deck Sammy Watkins SSP Auto
My biggest complaint with this set is the abundance of stickers, which I wish would not be an issue with a pre-draft product that can practically be sent out immediately after the previous season for on card autos. That being said, the autographs do look really nice, and the photography on the cards is about as good as it gets. There are a few on card auto sets, but not enough to make me happy. Many of the top rookies will be beyond SPed in any autographs on the checklists, but the base cards are excellent for sending out TTM autos early on.
I have always been a very big fan of the retro cards in this set, and for the third year in a row, they have really come through on these. I think that we need to start seeing a bit more variety, maybe folding in some of the inserts that would be saved for the Fleer Retro set that is WAAAY too late in the year to make a difference. Can you imagine the Metal Gems cards during this point in the year in a larger set? HUGE. Hell redo them later on with updated checklists.
The letter signatures have never been something I like at all, but the design is a lot better this year. I cant support signed swatch cards, as they never turn out well.
Other inserts like photo variation SSPs and Predictors are cool cards, and I think UD did a good job keeping this set relevant along the way. Overall, UD can be a fun bust for some cheap thrills, even though the value will tank as the year moves on. Cheap thrills are still fun this early in the year.
Love this set. UD has done a great job with the checklist, photography and the College Mascot/Tributes Patch set. I buy more singles from this set than any other.
The only thing that kills me is the base Short Prints. I have no problem with a base variation being SP’ed, but I hate having to hunt down the SP’ed card of a 4 year DL that has little to no value because he’s a high number in the set.
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