Topps is kicking off its 2026 football calendar with a familiar hobby marker: a Flagship release and a rookie quarterback on the cover.
Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 pick and QB of the Las Vegas Raiders, will front 2026 Topps Flagship Football. It’s the first time the rookie has landed on a cover, an honor in the hobby that sits alongside NFL players being named the cover athlete for Madden.
The product is set to reach retail on Friday, August 21st, with pre-orders opening July 20th. That timing matters because this will be Topps’ first Flagship Football release since it regained the NFL license in April, and it arrives before the season begins.
Topps skipped Flagship entirely in its 2025 football run, moving straight to Topps Chrome and then into Topps Finest, Cosmic Chrome, and other releases.
Based on the limited images and details Topps has shown, the 2026 Flagship Football format looks like a standard one, with one relic or autograph per box. The box also highlights short-print insert chases called “Touchdown,” “Struttin,'” and “Billboard Material.”
Mendoza has already been a major part of Topps’ football rollout. At the NFL Draft, he appeared in Topps NOW cards, the print-on-demand program built around big sports moments.
His card was released minutes after the Raiders picked him and finished with a print run of more than 126,000 over 48 hours. One collector even received a card Mendoza signed with “My 1st NFL Auto.”
He’s also been collecting himself. Mendoza recently told Topps that he owns the 1-of-1 2025 Bowman Chrome Superfractor of himself from Indiana University, a card he got in a trade with a fellow Indiana classmate in exchange for tickets to Indiana’s College Football Playoff games and a jersey.
Mendoza has leaned into Las Vegas, too. He recently signed a card from 2026 Topps Inception Football with the inscription: “Viva Las Vegas.”
That kind of hobby buy-in makes him an easy fit for the first Flagship cover since Topps got the NFL license back. As the top pick and a player already showing comfort with the card world, Mendoza gives the launch a clear face right out of the gate.
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