The NFL Draft is approaching next weekend, and all of the mock drafts are running in full swing prior to the big event. Card manufacturers are starting to gear up, as well. After all, I contend the NFL Draft is the most important draft of all of the major sports for sports card manufacturers and collectors.

The baseball draft might be the biggest in the long run, in terms of possible future stars and their long-term collectibility, but it takes a few years before you see them play, which except for a select few, means they have dropped from the public's eye in that time - if they even make it to the bigs.

The NBA Draft is a pretty big deal because a lot of those players make an immediate impact, but then then you're only talking about maybe 10 immediate impact guys. And the draft itself is only 60 players or so.

But the NFL draft offers the best of all worlds – plenty of talent in terms of sheer quantity and the fact that a good number can make immediate impacts with their respective teams. Just look at the players last year off the top of your head – Forte, Chris Johnson, Eddie Royal, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, DeSean Jackson, Darren McFadden – and those are just some of the offensive players.

All of those players had an immediate impact on the football card market, which also happens to be the second most popular card segment in the hobby, for those who want to argue that the basketball draft has a bigger impact on the sports hobby as a whole.

So it will be fun to see the tops picks in next weekend's draft and then watch as the card companies announce how those picks will be presented in upcoming products.

Let the countdown begin.