An ode to Pro Line Portraits NFL cards: Starter jackets, Zubaz and early ’90s absurdity

Pro Line Portraits started off with noble intentions: To stand apart from the sea of other trading card offerings that turned the late ’80s and early ’90s into what is now known as the “junk wax era” because of the period’s obscene overproduction by showing NFL players, coaches, and even the players’ wives in posed portraits rather than the usual in-game action shots.

In the 1991 set, which included 300 cards, many subjects were photographed wearing the early ’90s pinnacle of athleisure wear — Starter jackets and Zubaz. Seattle Seahawks safety Eugene Robinson even brought a saxophone into the equation.

Carnell Lake (left) and Eugene Robinson living the Zubaz life. Photos: eBay.

Each card carried an image befitting a JCPenney catalog, like the one for the Cleveland Browns’ young head coach, who appears blissfully unaware that he was destined to win six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and then fail to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.

Then there was Miami Dolphins wide receiver Mark Clayton, who might have the coolest football card pose of all time.

Other subjects weren’t as fortunate, however. Troy Aikman appeared on his card mid-struggle with the chest press machine in what looked like Ivan Drago’s training center from Rocky IV.

What other trading card set could offer such spectacular images of both New York Jets head coach Bruce Coslet and Washington kicker Chip Lohmiller?

With images like those, 1991 Pro Line Portraits was obviously a indisputable success. So for the 1992 set, which was cut down to 167 cards that were a part of 1992 Pro Line Collection, it was more of the same types of photos … mostly. After all, why mess with a winning formula? When you can put Buffalo Bills rookie offensive lineman Mitch Frerotte’s mullet on a trading card in all its glory, you do it. (Side note: Frerotte scored three touchdowns in the 1992 season, which is still a record for an offensive lineman.)

Also, everyone needs a card featuring Dolphins wide receiver/running back Jim Jensen standing in a swimming pool or Washington lineman Joe Jacoby standing on a scale like he’s waiting for a bus. Why? Because this is what fine art looks like.

 

Is all of this making a little too much sense so far? Well, here’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Sam Wyche standing in a pool, but also wearing a jacket for some reason.

So that was 1992 Pr— AH IT’S INDIANAPOLIS COLTS SAFETY MIKE PRIOR! HE’S COMING RIGHT FOR US!

Wow, okay. That was 1992 Pro Line Portraits. Things got a little off-kilter there. So for the 1993 set, which was again cut down, this time to just 44 cards, they had to change gears. They focused the portraits on highlighting things each subject enjoyed outside of football or something unique about them. Surely that would result in some nice, totally not weird photographs, right Jets defensive end Jeff Lageman?

Uh, Brett Favre, Drew Bledsoe, what are you guys doing?

Alright, well, the next card is the most troubling of the bunch. Buccaneers defensive end Eric Curry appears to be investigating the death of a quarterback (on the back of the card. he says he graduated from Alabama with a criminal justice degree that he may want to put to use after his playing career). It’s a crime he may or may not be the prime suspect for.

But let’s end on a positive note. Perhaps the most remarkable Pro Line Portraits accomplishment was making Seahawks quarterback Rick Mirer look cool.

By 1994, the Pro Line set ditched the portraits angle entirely and an odd but wonderful chapter in football cards was complete. Pro Line Portraits base cards mostly hold little monetary value today, but these were some of the first sets that included autographed versions of cards in packs and those — particularly the Favre, Belichick, and Muhammad Ali autos — have sold for several hundred dollars to $1,000-plus. Even with the autograph possibility, a box of 1991 Pro Line Portraits or 1992 Pro Line Collection only costs about $40 today. So there really is no excuse to not have a Frerotte or Clayton in your collection.

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