Panini America Recaps a Busy First Day at the 2012 NFL PLAYERS Rookie Premiere
LOS ANGELES — The 2012 NFL PLAYERS Rookie Premiere kicked off in earnest Wednesday afternoon as the brightest young stars in the NFL began descending upon Los Angeles for one of the most important days on the trading card calendar.
The Panini America studio was buzzing well into Wednesday night as one superstar after another — including Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson, Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden, Ryan Broyles and Brock Osweiler — made their way through the room to begin signing what promise to be the most coveted autographs of the season.
A highlight-filled first day included Panini America unveiling the welcome return of acetate Rookie Inscriptions cards (a development met by rave reviews from both the players who signed them and the football-loving Twitterverse) and a special Rated Rookie T-shirt that seemed to generate just as much buzz.
What follows is a comprehensive gallery of Panini America’s fun-filled first day at the 2012 NFL PLAYERS Rookie Premiere. Enjoy. And stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance and the Panini America Twitter feed all week long for additional updates and for details on how to win some sweet autographed cards from the top rookies of 2012.
Trackbacks
- Panini America Recaps a Busy First Day at the 2012 NFL PLAYERS Rookie Premiere - Blowout Cards Forums
- Panini America On Location: Day Two at the 2012 NFLPA Rookie Premiere (30 Images) « The Official Panini America Blog
- How You Can Win During Panini America’s Recap of the 2012 NFLPA Rookie Premiere « The Official Panini America Blog
The Knight's Lance 
Amazing, wish I could be in the room just to watch.
Love those Rookie Inscriptions. Any chance you could convince someone to do something similar for an NBA release? 😉
Love the Inscriptions clear auto’s. Brings back memories. But I have to ask is there something on them so that the ink won’t fade like the original ones?
Come on Panini!! Where is Stephen Hill from the JETS!?! You would think that Redskins guy is important or something! LOL! Lets see some JETS stuff!!!
OMG the clear plastic Inscription cards are awesome. I want one really bad. Maybe a Trent Richardson or a RG3 🙂
WOW!! I love field autos, I know what set I’m going to go for!!! What product are they going to be in, Epix is coming back? I’m pumped!!!
Throwback to the ole’ Inscription clear cards yesteryear and I LOVED those cards (even though they were a tough pull). Keep up the good work and keep clearing out those old redemptions, still waiting on 3!
Love the acetate version of the Elite Rookie Inscription cards. And with the varying ink colors, player and set collectors will fighting for them.
PS, love the photoshop!
Will they be making their way into packs? I read the tweets in the past 24 hrs, and I think the acetate versions is a personal edition Panini made for the players to take home?
We made the players a Personal Edition to keep and trade with their rookie classmates; but there’s also a version that will be inserted into 2012 Elite Football.
Field autos, letter autos, plastic autos that reminds me of Pinnacle Inscriptions, drool, drool, baby drool and so much drool that maybe I am teething like my 8 month old is.
Great looking Rated Rookie shirts as well. Are there going to be even worn pieces of those in cards???
Overall, looks like a blast. Can’t wait to see how to win some of these. Tell the New Giants players I said hi please!
oh man. Some real sweet stuff here.
I can’t be the only one who would love to have a pullout or field auto without the rest of the card.
Tracy,
That stuff looks cool. Did you get the Rookies & Stars Patch RC’s signed at this event too? If so will R&S be out before the National in August? This is one of my favorite products of the year.
Thanks,
T
Wht are the fields going into
Holy cow, Tracy!!! Those acetate cards are the most beautiful things I’ve seen in this hobby in years!!! I am blown away by the new designs in these preview images…can NOT WAIT to see these live! PS – It is so cool to see RGIII in a “Rated Rookies” shirt. Hope you are having a blast, thanks for sharing!
Why is it that players have “00” this year when we know what they’re numbers will be for the upcoming season? I’ve seen some Nick Toon pics and he’s already been guaranteed 88, but the Saints Jsy has 00.
At the time we had to print these early cards to have them in time for the shoot, he had not been assigned a jersey number. So we were only able to include the “00.”
Love the design! The acetate cards are a fantastic idea!
What do I have to do to win that card? 🙂
Amazing stuff! Can’t wait to meet some of these guys on Friday at the Celebrity Football Game!
as Bart Scott said “can’t wait”.
beautiful !!!!
Awesome stuff! Can’t wait for the future products and i’m excited for the Celebrity game tomorrow night in LA.
Can’t wait for 2012 Panini Football Products to be released!
Sweet can’t wait to bust open some packs
The signed piece of football looks great! The signed clear cards also look amazing! Great looking product!
Love the Inscriptions cards!
I have been Always been really curious and now I am going to ask, How long does it take the average player to sign a stack of cards? Do some take their time with their signatures and the others who have easier sigs scribble through?
Also, great contest! Would love to own that card. Would probably be my only RG3 hit of the year lol. But that card would be well worth it!!!!! Love the Acetate signatures. Thanks for the behind the scenes pics as well! Can’t wait for day 2 pics!
Good question. It really varies by player. Some players are more efficient and some players take as much time as possible to give a great graph.
Thanks for the answer.
I know If I was a pro athlete I would find this part very exciting. My first own Panini Trading card! i would keep signing away.
Do players set apart a time to trade with one another? Sorry for the questions. Just find this whole process very exciting.
Looks like Panini once again has a great lineup of products for the season! Better start saving some $$ for packs and boxes 🙂
That rated rookie shirt is awesome!
SO awesome! Going to be some SWEET sets to put together! Can’t wait to get started. Thanks for sharing these pics with us!
Nice !
Can’t wait to see all the Rams rookies autos. With 6 rookies in the first four rounds should have plenty of cards. Thanks for the sneak peek @paniniamerica
Love the acetate card! Good job!
Wow! This really looks amazing. Good job Tracy!
I love the Inscription clear cards in acetate. These are going to be top sellers for Panini. I’ve been collecting cards since the early 1970s, and these new batches…AMAZING! Love RGIII in Rated Rookies shirt (lol), and the Rookie Premiere cards look fantastic with the gridiron behind the signature. I mostly collected Topps until Panini started putting out some really high-quality stuff that makes collecting more than just a hobby now! Thanks for sharing this! Great gallery.
Can’t wait to my hands on these… Come on football season!
So Cool! would Love to have one of those Autocards for my collection.
Awesome stuff, can’t wait to see the we products live
Those clear autograph cards are looking awesome!
I’d really like that RG3 card!
I’ll take one of the Weedens and one of the Richardsons, please. Very nice!
Did you guys get a new design staff??? Seriously nice.
The letterman and the field cards are cool .. the auto cards are even MORE cool!
Rated rookie shirt is awesome! Where can I get one?
Appreciate the great feedback, everyone. Stay tuned for more details soon on how you’ll be able to acquire your own Rated Rookie T-shirt.
Those Elite cards look sweet and I want a Rated Rookie T-shirt!
to me next to the actual NFL season, this is HEAVEN.
I’ll take the Jeffrey set, thanks!
This must have been quite an experience to have all of these athletes in one place at one time!
Beautifully designed acetate card…would love to pull one! Hey Tracy…where can one get that Rated Rookie t-shirt?!? Would love one of those as well! It’s almost as awesome as the card!!! ***Idea*** Create a signed card of RGIII posing in the Rated Rookie shirt with swatches of that “event worn” t-shirt!!!
Where is the 49ers stuff at?
I would love to win this card so i could give it to my nephew, who is a big RG3 fan. I hope I pull some these sweet cards this year!!!
Wouldn’t mind winning a card from any of the former Razorbacks too!!!
Looks like another great year for football cards. Cant wait to bust some boxes.RG3 is the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Wow sick pictures looks like this years products are looking good definitely getting some boxes for Christmas
You guys should randomly insert some cards to collectors to attend the premiere next year!
LOVE the RR tee shirts would love to haave one!!!! And the acetate cards scare me ive seen some in shops exposed to light and the blue sharpie was faded very bad but if i win it i wont keep it in the light. Looks like everyone had fun.
RG3 shirt brings back old fond memories…
crisp set, love it!
Awesome card i love the fact you can see through the bottom where the auto is!!! Great Job Panini!!!
Those are some sweet pics. RG3 looks great in the redskins uniform. But I say Who Dey for Dre Kirkpatrick. Can’t wait for his first NFL auto. Go Bengals.
Where can I get a rated rookie t-shirt?
Great stuff Tracy! I love the look of the Elite Inscriptions! The RGIII Inscriptions looked pretty sweet too with the Heisman and POY that he wrote. I bet this premiere was a lot of fun. Glad to see another Appalachian State Alumni in Brian Quick there!
Awesome pics!! Thanks for giving us the inside look!!!
That RG3 card is a B.AM.F.C. , awesome job panini!!
Wow super sick ! Wish I had a job there ! The stuff looks awesome too, can’t wait to bust a box !
Amazing pictures and amazing cards coming out soon. The best thing is seeing RG3 in a throwback Rated Rookie Shirt. I can’t wait to see all the Trent RIchardson cards from Panini, the one in the gallery looks amazing.
So many exciting things about this year’s draft class! I love the field autos. Nothing like a nice, BIG auto!
nice cards
I want the RG3 card
I love RG3, His NFL future is VERY promising
Awesome! I love me some rookies! Should be an exciting year!
Nice looking cards! The RG3 card is awesome looking and it would be really cool to win it! I also like the rated rookie t-shirt!
Love the acetate cards!
Awesome, wish I was there
Incredibly nice set…I’m a big fan of the card layouts…plus, those acetate cards have always been a favorite of mine and I’m glad to see them back in the hobby! Let’s see some Marvin McNutt!!!
Awesome!! Can’t wait to get my hands on some
These cards look really crisp and clean! I really like how panani has knocled it out of the park with the design and the graphics of their cards. I will be buying a few boxes of this product.
Nice
Nice, so excited for new stuff to come out.
Just awesome, cannot wait to bust boxes! But where can I get that Rated Rookie Shirt?
cant wait for some great new cards
Acetate cards? You have my heart.
from what i saw there is some awsome cards coming out,love it…hope to pick a couple out when they come out..lol..
AMAZING gallery Tracy!!!!!!!! I would do ANYTHING for one of those RG3 autos!!!! You guys at Panini have the BEST job EVER!!!! Keep up the great work Panini!!!
just crazy sick look this year out standing
…wow just wow, love the inscriptions autos, and love the rated rookie shirt, and im always lovin it
Can’t wait to see the final product when these get made into cards!
The acetate cards are sweeeeet! Something I think has been used far too little in the hobby, especially in recent years. Looking forward to these!
Where does one buy that “Rated Rookie” T-Shirt? Thats amazing…
Liked on Facebook and now commented here. OMG that RG3 card is a beauty. One of the best looking cards I’d seen lately… That was, until looked at the rest of the pictures. All I have to say is WOW!
Really cool stuff!I Paraded around in my Panini America T-shirt today as it was nice and cool here in Montreal sleeves are still a little tight but I am stretching them in…liking the Rated Rookie one but I am not to sure if it is as nice as The Knights Lance Panini America one that one is just so cool and getting lots of looks ….Thanks !Great job also on all the pics and updates!
Very beautiful cards. I better start saving some money. I what them all.
Everything looks awesome! Love the Epix football field auto’s, but I’m definitely highly anticipating buying a lot more Elite than normal to try to hit those acetate auto’s!!!
Very nice stuff. Love the Acetate cards. What kind of pen/ink did you use for those?
You guys could always send me a t-shirt here (AFG) and I’d send you a picture back. 🙂
SWEET!!!
GO RG3! ELITE LOOKING NICE!
The Donruss Elite Inscriptions look awesome. I am never been lucky enough to pull something like a RG3. I always get duds. I want that RUSH when you open a pack and bam there it is the card you have been waiting for. In your hands. Awesome. Wish i had the money to get some of the top picks auto’s.. Again the cards look great. I hope you will pick me for the RG3 auto give away
Cards look amazing as always and autograph materials are clever. Love the Rated Rookie T-shirt… brings back memories of collecting in the early ’90’s. Good job.
“It’s the most…wonderful time…of the year!”
Gotta love when the rookie autos start pouring in, super jealous of the shirt RG3 is wearing in that picture! Any funny stories about any of the players? Pranks going on, etc.?
Hey Tracy,
I love the Inscription clear cards , they look Amazing ! and i have to say just from what ive seen so far the quality of signatures from this years RC class looks much better then last years. they seem to take a little more pride in how there signature looks and it is much apprciated ! Keep up the good Work and like everyone else i need to snag one of thoses Rated Rookie Tee’s !
Looks so awesome – cant wait to bust some Panini football!
Great first day! Can’t wait to #Collect
I hope TJ Graham finds a place to grow and contribute in Buffalo–must-have RC!
Need me a TJ Graham auto! Hope he finds a role this season in Buffalo!
@Redskins RG3 you can do it!!!
LOVE that the clear inscriptions were brought back!!! Makes for a very versatile card and looks beautiful! Thanks for the contests, too!
Sweet RG3 auto, im sure it will find a god home with someone here. thanks for the giveaway
Hey Tracy,
One thing i didnt see this year was the Auto RC Helmet Cards for Prestige. Are they going to be a part of this years release? I love thoses cards , I am for those every year.
the inscriptions for elite are awesome. LOVE the acetate cards cant wait to get the dolphins ones this year.
Wow, those look great! I’ll take some inscriptions! My hands are tired looking at all those cards stacked up for auto’s. But good to know they are hand signed!! Thanks for the pictures and the great work again!
Another great rookies crop
I have been critical at times of some of the products but I have to say the inscription cards are really sharp looking. Those are nice!!!!
bet they went though tons of sharpies.