Contenders Football History Defines NFL Rookie Cards – The 2016 release of Contenders football cards (March 23rd), will mark the brand’s 23rd year as the trading card set for NFL rookie football cards. The brand made its initial debut in 1993 as a property of Playoff Corp.
Since that time, Contenders has been responsible for some of the most iconic rookie football cards in the modern collecting era. The history of Contenders Football has truly come to define NFL rookie cards.
Contenders Football was released at the height of the hobby’s era of over-production. However, the brand’s place in history as a cornerstone for NFL football rookie cards has stood the test of time. The brand’s longevity is a testament to its popularity with collectors and success in the marketplace.
2016 marks a new era in the collecting world with longtime trading card manufacturer, Topps, losing their long held NFL license to produce football cards. Panini America will be the home of NFL football rookie cards for the foreseeable future. With that privilege, comes a responsibility to deliver the market, top-tier football card brands. Contenders Football will be at the foundation of the company’s strategy.
Playoff’s introduction of the Rookie Ticket autographed card in 1998, revolutionized the football card 
market. This premium upgrade, set the bar for all future NFL rookie cards to come there-after. Today, the Contenders Rookie Ticket Autographs are highly sought after by collectors. High-grade examples of future Hall of Fame players, like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, command thousand of dollars on the secondary market.
Through the years, the brand has gone through many changes. Some of these changes have been in the overall design of the cards. Others have pertained to specific elements of the cards themselves. Among these various nuances have been: vertical vs. horizontal orientation, sticker vs. on-card autographs, clear stickers vs. foil stickers, bordered vs full bleed.
In more recent years, Contenders has added ever increasing levels of manufactured scarcity with the inclusion of numerous ticket versions, variations and parallels. Regardless of these changes, one element has remained constant and vital to the brand’s success; the Rookie Ticket Autographs.
This video provides an overview of the Contenders football card brand, with a particular emphasis paid to the all important Rookie Ticket Autographs.
Video: Contenders Football History Defines NFL Rookie Cards
Timeline: Contenders Football History Defines NFL Rookie Cards
Few trading card brands have as storied a history as Contenders Football. The history of the Contenders Football card brand dates back to 1992 when co-founders of a company called Optigraphics, John Flavin and Ann Blake divorced.
If you grew up drinking Slurpee’s from 7-11, you’ll remember the lenticular motion sports discs that were distributed with the beverage. These were printed by Optigraphics.
Optigraphic’s first sports card brand was the fondly remembered Sportflics. The company is also responsible for bringing collectors the debut of the Score brand of baseball cards in 1988 and football cards in 1989.
Following their divorce, Flavin would retain the Score brand before its eventual sale to Pinnacle. While, Ann Blake, who would later re-marry and become Ann Powell, formed a new company called Playoff Corp.
1993 (150 Card Set – 50 Rookies):
Playoff Corp. secures the rights to produce NFL licensed football cards and the Playoff Contenders 
Football card brand was born. 1993 Playoff Contenders Football features a rookie cards of Drew Bledsoe and Jerome Bettis. The now infamous Rookie Contenders insert set debuted with 10 cards and features different player photographs than the base version.
Other, semi-notable rookies include: Natrone Means, Willie Roaf, Dana Stubblefield, Curtis Conway, Mark Brunell, Rick Mirer
1994 (120 Card Set – 29 Rookies):
The following year saw rookie cards of Trent Dilfer and Marshall Faulk along with a 6-card Rookie Contenders insert set. Other, semi-notable rookies include: Bam Morris, Errict Rhett, Heath Shuler, Gus Frerotte
1995 (150 Card Set – 34 Rookies):
A talented rookie class included Curtis Martin, Terrell Davis, Steve McNair and Warren Sapp to name a few. Interestingly enough, the company abandoned, at least temporarily, the Rookie Contenders insert set. Other, semi-notable rookies include: Kerry Collins, Kordell Stewart, J.J. Stokes, Joey Galloway, Michael Westbrook, Rashaan Salaam, Tyrone Wheatley
1996 (320 Card Set):
The entire pack-out configuration for the product changed in 1996. At this time the industry was seeing a move to premium brands and the creation of scarce insert cards. Playoff followed suite by tweaking the set’s past formula. Packs come with three cards: (1) Leather and (1) Pennant card of which there were (100) of each and (1) Hologram of which there were (120) in all.
There was once again, no Rookie Contenders insert set. And because there was no traditional base set, cards of first year players are not true rookie cards. However, the set does feature first year cards of Keyshawn Johnson and Marvin Harrison to name a few. Other, semi-notable rookies include: Eric Moulds, Eddie Kinnison, Mike Alstott, Eddie George
1997 (150 Card Set – 30 Rookies):
A rather forgettable year for the product. There was, yet again, no Rookie Contenders. There were however a bloated number of inserts. The rather dismal rookie class features only three notable players – Jake Plummer, Tony Gonzalez and Tiki Barber.
1998: Playoff Corp acquired a number of brands as the result of recent consolidation in the marketplace. In May of 1996, Pinnacle Brands had acquired Donruss and Leaf, adding to their stable of brands having acquired Score and Action Packed in 1995. However, in 1998, just two years later, Pinnacle Brands filed for bankruptcy and was soon after acquired by Playoff Corp.
And then . . . everything . . .changed.
1998 (150 Card Set – 20 Rookies):
Introduced one of the most iconic inserts in modern football card collecting, the Rookie Ticket Autograph. Notable rookie autographs include Hines Ward, Randy Moss and arguably the biggest draft bust in NFL history in Ryan Leaf. However, the set also produced one of the crown jewels of the modern collecting era with Peyton Manning’s Rookie Ticket Autograph.
1999 (205 Card Set – 44 Rookies):
At this point – Playoff knew they had a winning formula and the focus for 1999 was all about the Rookie Ticket Autographs which more than doubled from 20 in 1998 to 44 in 1999. With such notables as Donovan McNabb, Kurt Warner, Edgerrin James and Ricky Williams. Other notable rookies include: Jeff Garcia, Tim Couch, Torry Holt, Daunte Culpepper, Champ Bailey
2000 (200 Card Set – 78 Rookies):
The year 2000 ushered in the new century with another crown jewel of the modern hobby with Tom Brady’s Rookie Ticket Autograph.It also delivered the Rookie Ticket Autograph of Brian Urlacher. Other notable rookies include: Shaun Alexander, Jamal Lewis, Chad Pennington
2001 (200 Card Set – 100 Rookies):
Playoff Corp. officially became the famed Donruss Playoff L.P. with Ann Powell still at the helm. With 
regards to the beloved Contenders brand, the name stayed the same. However, there were some unwelcome changes.
Looking to further capitalize on the popularity of the Rookie Ticket Autographs, the checklist was expanded to 100 cards; up from 78 the year before. Unfortunately, and potentially as a consequence of the expanded checklist, the newly formed Donruss Playoff L.P. looked to cut costs of autograph acquisition and started using non-transparent sticker labels that would be referred to by collectors as “band aids”.
The result was a truly dreadful design. Which is unfortunate because that year’s NFL Draft class produced some notable rookies including: Drew Brees, Steve Smith, LaDanian Tomlinson and Chad Johnson. Other notable rookies include: Michael Vick, Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss, A.J. Feeley
2002 (186 Card Set – 86 Rookies):
The sticker labels, remained despite the checklist being trimmed to 86 Rookie Ticket Autographs. The design of the card was changed to a horizontal layout for the first time in the brand’s history. The only notable rookie is Clinton Portis.
Other rookies include: Antwaan Randle El, Brian Westbrook, Deion Branch, Dwight Freeney, Joey Harrington, Jeremy Shockey, Julius Peppers
2003 (202 Card Set – 102 Rookies):
Playoff Contenders Football maintained the horizontal format and the bad sticker autographs. The set features 102 Rookie Ticket Autographs including those of Tony Romo and Carson Palmer to name a few. This also marked the first time the brand incorporated rookie coaches or those coaching for a new team into the autograph checklist.
The set features a number of high profile coaches including Tony Dungee, Dave Wannstedt, Mike Martz, Mike Sherman and Dick Vermeil. Other notable rookies include: Anquan Boldin, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman, Larry Johnson, Willis McGahee, Nate Burleson, Terrell Suggs, Dallas Clark
2004 (200 Card Set – 101 Rookies):
Returns to a vertical format but still maintained the non-transparent stickers autographs. 
However, their placement toward the bottom of the card at least made them less disruptive to the overall card design.
Featured rookies include; Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Larry Fitzgerald and Philip Rivers. The first year coaches theme continued and is highlighted by Marvin Lewis, Jeff Fisher and John Gruden. Other notable rookies include: Julius Jones, Kellen Winslow Jr., Wes Welker
2005 (200 Card Set -98 Rookies):
Maintained the vertical format and returned the poor label placement. Key rookies include Aaron Rodgers and Frank Gore. Several other notable rookies include: DeMarcus Ware, Matt Cassel, Alex Smith, Cedric Benson, Cadillac Williams, Kyle Orton
2006 (242 Card Set – 142 Rookies):
The Rookie Ticket Autograph checklist is headlined by a heavily hyped rookie class that didn’t exactly pan out. However, it did produce several solid players including A.J. Hawk, Reggie Bush and Jay Cutler to name a few. Other notable rookies include: Brandon Marshall, Santonio Holmes, Jay Cutler, Joseph Addai, Devin Hester, Matt Leinart
2007 (240 Card Set – 140 Rookies):
The design team at Donruss Playoff made the merciful decision to switch to transparent sticker autograph labels. The decision came just in time as that year would produce the Rookie Ticket Autographs of both Adrian Peterson and Calvin Johnson. Other rookies include: Brady Quinn, Jamaal Anderson, Greg Olsen
2008 (225 Card Set – 126 Rookies):
It was apparent the clear autographs were here to stay. Key rookies from that year are Joe Flacco and Matt Forte. Other notable rookies include: Chad Henne, Darren McFadden, Jordy Nelson, Ray Rice
2009 (209 Card Set – 109 Rookies):
Features a rookie class that included Clay Matthews and Matt Stafford. Other notable rookies include: Michael Crabtree, Knowshon Moreno, Percy Harvin, Hakeem Nicks, LeSean McCoy, Julian Edelman, Michael Oher
However, more changes were on the horizon.
In March of 2009, Donruss Playoff L.P. was acquired by Panini Spa of Italy. The company name was immediately change to Panini America. So in 2010, Playoff Contenders became a Panini brand for the first time. But that was far from being the only change.
2010 (235 Card Set – 171 Rookies):
The Rookie Ticket Autograph set exploded to its largest in history with a checklist of 171 cards. However, in actuality, 35 of the players had (2) versions of their Rookie Ticket Autograph – a standard card and a short-printed variation.
Each card featured a different player image, typically with one being in their home uniform the other in the team’s away colors. In addition, the orientation of the cards layout was again changed back to vertical.
2010 featured a solid rookie class producing Dez Bryant, Sam Bradford and Rob Gronkowski, just to name a few. Other notable rookies include: Jimmy Graham, Victor Cruz, Ben Tate, CJ Spiller, Colt McCoy, Golden Tate, Jimmy Clausen, Ryan Mathews, Toby Gerhart
2011 (235 Card Set – 135 Rookies):
The card design switched back again to a horizontal layout and gone were the sticker autographs. However, the space utilized for the autograph was reserved by a glaring white box that distracted from the cards aesthetics. The hard-signed signatures were a major step in the right direction. Key rookies from that draft class include Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick, J.J. Watt and Cam Newton. Other notable rookies include: A.J. Green, Terrelle Pryor, Randall Cobb, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Julio Jones, DeMarco Murray
2012 (245 Card Set – 151 Rookies):
The Playoff moniker was dropped and instead referred here on out as Panini Contenders. The cards are laid out in a vertical orientation and feature on-card signatures without the weird white box that had been used the year before. The Rookie Ticket Autograph checklist features a trio of high profile quarterbacks in Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. Other notable rookies include: Ryan Tannehill, Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon, Michael Floyd, Nick Foles, Brock Osweiler, Doug Martin, Alshon Jeffery
2013 (240 Card Set – 147 Rookies):
2013 Panini Contenders Football saw a hybrid version of the white box running vertically along the length of the card for the player to sign. Key rookies include Eddie Lacy and Manti T’eo. Other notable rookies include: Geno Smith, Denard Robinson, Giovani Bernard, Marcus Lattimore, Le’Veon Bell, Tyler Eifert, EJ Manuel
2014 (251 Card Set – 125 Rookies):
2014 Panini Contenders Football maintained the vertical card orientation and returned the athlete signature to a horizontal format along a white portion towards the bottom of the card. Key rookies include Odell Beckham Jr. and Teddy Bridgewater along with a host of other notable players – A.J. McCarron, Jadeveon Clowney, Tre Mason, Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins, Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel.
2015 (239 Card Set – 147 Rookies):
2015 Panini Contenders Football saw the top two quarterbacks coming out of college drafted #1 and 2 in Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. Again a host of other solid players are also included on the Rookie Ticket checklist: Thomas Rawls, Tyler Locket, Amari Cooper, Karlos Williams, T. J Yeldon, Todd Gurley, Nelson Agholor, Melvin Gordon, Stefon Diggs, Jeremy Langford.
So who will be the BIG, must have, Rookie Ticket Autographs from the 2016 NFL Draft Class? Only time will tell but collectors will have their first shot when the 2016 Panini Contenders Draft Picks debuts on March 23rd, 2016.
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