9 Great Football Rookie Cards That Never Were!

We were robbed of a couple handfuls of fantastic rookie football cards for several reasons, and we want someone to go back in time and fix it!

Each “Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter” pack has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets – like me!

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🏈 9 GREAT FOOTBALL ROOKIE CARDS THAT NEVER WERE!

We listed off 9 Great Rookie Basketball Cards That Never Were (and 13 Others) in a previous issue, and it was easily one of our most popular posts so far. It was a list of rookie cards we were robbed of seeing, for whatever reason, and now we’re turning our attention to the football card world, since the 2024 NFL season is about to launch! In some cases, these players got rookie cards, just not in the season they should have gotten them, or in the product that should have celebrated them!

1965 Topps Roger Staubach Rookie Card

Captain America’s final season with Navy was in 1964, when he became the last player from a military academy to win the Heisman Trophy. (He would also play on their baseball and basketball teams!) But Staubach’s NFL career wouldn’t begin until 1969 because of his naval career and the Vietnam War.

Interestingly, Staubach was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 10th round of the 1964 NFL Draft (a year early because he was out of high school for four years at the time). He was also selected in the 16th round of the 1964 AFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, where he would have played behind Hall-of-Famer Len Dawson. (So, a case could be made that Staubach should have had a 1964 Topps rookie card!)

Follow this – he was drafted in 1964, played college football in his senior year of 1964, then finished his four-year naval commitment in 1969, when he joined Dallas, But Staubach’s rookie card didn’t come out until 1972 – one year after Terry Bradshaw, who was drafted in 1970.

We had to wait seven years for Staubach’s rookie card!?!

What are we doing here!?!

1966 Topps Gale Sayers Rookie Card

While Sayers’ rookie card was still published that year, it came from the Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation, as they had the NFL card license at the time. Topps, meanwhile, only had the license for AFL cards, and the best AFL rookie that year was Chiefs WR Otis Taylor.

We missed out on the Kansas Comet getting the true Topps rookie card treatment, and Philadelphia would use the same picture from 1966 for their 1967 Sayers card, too!

Sayers is considered one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, and he famously retired early because of knee injuries. He would end up being the youngest NFL player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame at 34 years old!

1971 Topps Joe Theismann Rookie Card

The Notre Dame superstar quarterback changed the pronunciation of his name (formerly THEES-man) in one of the very earliest Heisman Trophy marketing campaigns. He would finish second to Jim Plunkett, who would go on to be the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick in 1971.

Theismann was a fourth-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 1971, but after a botched contract negotiation by owner Joe Robbie, Theismann took his talents to “North” Beach – Canada. He signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

Washington traded for his rights in 1974 and brought him back to America, where he would mostly serve as a backup until 1978.

Theismann’s Topps rookie card came in 1975, four years after he was drafted, robbing us of seeing him in that colorful 1971 Topps NFL set.

1973 Topps Dave Winfield Rookie Card

As I mentioned in the basketball card writeup, the Baseball Hall-of-Famer became a star with the Padres and Yankees, and San Diego made him the fourth overall pick in the 1973 MLB Draft out of the University of Minnesota. But.

Winfield never played a down of college football, yet the Minnesota Vikings drafted him in the 17th round of the 1973 NFL Draft, as did the ABA and NBA pro basketball leagues.

1978 Topps Warren Moon Rookie Card

After playing college football with West Los Angeles College and the University of Washington, Moon went undrafted in the NFL, choosing to start his professional career in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos. After winning four consecutive Grey Cups, he’d finally get an NFL contract with the Houston Oilers in 1983.

Moon went on to set many career professional passing records, and he became the first undrafted quarterback and the first African-American quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of fame in 2006. (He’s also the only player inducted into both the NFL’s HOF and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.)

Moon’s 1985 Topps rookie card came seven years too late.

1984 Topps NFL Rookie Cards For Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Reggie White and Steve Young

Yeah, sure, at least Topps produced their USFL rookie cards in 1984, but we were robbed of seeing them in their NFL uniforms much earlier.

1986 Topps Bo Jackson Rookie Card

Again, we realize there’s a 1986 Topps Traded Bo Jackson rookie card for baseball, but we want a 1986 Topps football card! In a Buccaneers uniform! And I want it now!

Bo famously chose not to play for Tampa Bay after he told them not to pick him. During his final season in college, Jackson was still set to play for Auburn’s college baseball team, but the Buccaneers flew him out to tour the team’s facilities after promising him it wouldn’t affect his college baseball eligibility. It ended up killing his eligibility, and Jackson believes the Bucs did it on purpose, forcing him to choose to play football over baseball.

Good job, Tampa Bay.

Bo knows grudges.

Jackson would choose to play for the Kansas City Royals, who drafted him in the fourth round, one year after they won the 1985 World Series! His Topps Football Rookie Card wouldn’t come out until 1988!

Below is a custom card I bought off eBay and I absolutely love/hate it!

1994 Topps Charlie Ward Rookie Card

Speaking of two-sport stars with a Heisman Trophy sitting on their mantle, quarterback Charlie Ward would win the 1993 Heisman before leading Florida State to their first College Football National Championship. Ward then quarterbacked the FSU basketball team as their point guard, leading them to the Elite Eight!

Unfortunately, Ward told the NFL that if he wasn’t drafted in the first round, which he believed he should be, he wouldn’t play football, and he’d choose to go to the NBA. He was told his draft ceiling was likely in the third round, which meant – Ward wasn’t going to the NFL.

The Knicks took Ward late in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft, and he’d play nine seasons with them, including when he helped lead them to the 1999 NBA Finals. He’s still the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA, and he joined Bo Jackson and Vic Janowicz to win a Heisman and play in a different major sport. (Janowicz won the 1950 Heisman for Ohio State as a halfback and would go on to play for Washington (NFL) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB) as a catcher.

Considered undersized as an NFL quarterback, the 6-foot-2 Ward is four inches taller than Bryce Young, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.