Panini Contenders is always a highly anticipated release for me. It’s been one of my favorite football sets for almost 10 years now, with the exception of 2013 Topps Archives. The set is a fully (almost) licensed NCAA product featuring current, past and future NFL players in their college digs. It’s the one set each year where I can still find my guys Stafford, Gurley and AJ Green wearing the beautiful Red & Black. This years rookie crop from UGA is very slim with the surprising return of Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Lorenzo Carter, Natrez Patrick and Dom Sanders. I had resigned myself to the fact that most, if not all, of these guys we’re going pro. The main rookie from the Dawgs that I’m looking for this year is Isaiah McKenzie and I’ve come up snake eyes in Sage and Contenders so far.
Contenders underwent a fairly extensive overhaul for 2017 and I like the final product. The price point is right on the edge of what I mind paying for hobby boxes but the stated hits are intriguing and worth it. The box was reduced to 6 packs this year with an autograph in each pack. The packs have 18 cards each so it’s very similar to a Prizm jumbo box with the reduced packs, increased cards and increased stated autos. The set itself still contains a 100 card base with veterans and retired stars in the college uni’s. These are called Season Tickets. Game Day Tickets are the rookie crop and consists of the major college stars and expected draftees in a couple of weeks. Additional inserts like College Connections, School Colors and more return, as more detailed below.
The card design this year has similarities to previous designs but instead features a centered photograph that takes up the top 2/3rd portion of the card with the ticket information at the bottom of the card. The photos are larger and consist of better shots in my opinion this year. The autographs include variations as in years past that include the highly sought after Cracked Ice. The set also includes Printing Plates at random. As with previous editions, there are no relics in the set but there is a new design in the set that has a relic feel, as you’ll see in a moment. So let’s take a look at the box break and some of my hits.
Season Tickets – As mentioned above, these consist of current and previous NFL players ranging from Tom Brady and Matt Ryan all the way back to Red Grange. There are a couple of new faces this year, such as Brian Bosworth.
GameDay Tickets – These consist of current draft eligible players including Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, D’Onta Foreman, Dede Westbrook and many others. There are some lesser known players as well but most of these names will be called on draft day.
Collegiate Connections – These cards include two players from the same college. These can be previous year teammates or players that never played at the college at the same time. I like the look of this insert this year.
Old School Colors – This is the insert that has a relic feel to me. The cards feature current, former and future NFL players with boxes on the card with their two main jersey colors displayed. The cards could easily have been made into jersey swatch cards but again, that’s never really been the Contenders MO.
School Colors – Here are the cards for the current draft eligible players that celebrate the college team colors. This is my favorite insert this year. Panini did an excellent job with the design of these cards and they are all vibrant and appealing.
Passing Grades – This insert is dedicated to the QB’s that are draft eligible as well NFL stars. This one has never really inspired me but it does feature quarterbacks so there’s that. I hit a Machine Gun Kelly too so that has a 50/50 shot of being solid. Of course, he’s got Johnny Manziel potential as well.
Rush Week – Like Passing Grades, this is another flimsy play on college words for thes insert dedicated to the running backs. I do like the design of this insert this year.
The Hits – My autos consisted of Dan Feeney, Fabian Moreau, Michael Rector, Seth Russell, Adam Shaheen and Patrick Mahomes. Two quarterbacks in the box was very nice and Mahomes has a lot of buzz right now. On top of that, the Mahomes was the Cracked Ice version, #d to 23. Very nice hit and made the box worth the price! I have pulled a couple of Cracked Ice auto’s before in Contenders but never a highly touted QB. It was very exciting!
I did pull a non-auto hit in the box as well, this Tim Tebow Printing plate 1/1. As a Bulldog fan, I am conditioned to despise Florida and everything associated with it. There have been a few exceptions like Emmitt Smith, Javon Kearse and Keanu Neal. Another is Tebow. I did despise him when he was wearing the blue and orange but I’ve seen him speak enough to know that he is a legitimate solid dude and he does things the right way. He’s a very sought after player in the collector market so the 1/1 plate was a wonderful addition to the 6 autographs. A Cracked Ice and Printing Plate in the same box almost makes it a hot box in my mind.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve long been a fan of Contenders. I remember trying to find the Peyton Manning auto back in 1998. My parents did buy me the unsigned red ticket for Christmas that year and I got it graded a couple of years ago. It’s a PC item and will stay that way. This is one of the best football products of the year for me because I’m not buying Flawless, NT, Black Gold or Spectra. Those are great products too but I can’t justify the price. This box is a reasonable price for six autos, and in this case, a Printing Plate. I like the new configuration of 6 packs with an autograph in each. I always buy a few blasters each year too because they typically have guaranteed autos as well but I’m anxious to see if the configuration has changed there as well. It was not yet at my Target or Wal-Mart as of this weekend.
The design this year is an improvement from last year and I didn’t have any problems with it then. I really like the School Colors insert this year and the Game Tickets look better than years past. One odd thing this year was noticed in TY Hilton and Adam Shaheen’s cards. They went to FIU and Ashland, respectively, but their uni’s on the cards were black and were missing logos, as well as missing them on the cards. I initially thought this could be a variation but it seems more likely that these particular schools did not reach an agreement with Panini on the licensing. I love a nice SP but it looks like this is standard base. There isn’t anything I don’t like in this set other than the continued inclusion of Passing Grades and Rush Week, although I do like the new Rush Week design. That dislike is not enough to give this set less than a 5 on the Dub-O-Meter though as it’s a highly anticipated release for me and many others every year. This year was no exception and the product did not dissapoint. I’m sure I’ll take one more swing at it this season.
J-Dub
Scoring Scale
1. Let me be the sacrificial lamb so you don’t have to buy these cards. Just read the post and thank me later.
2. There is worse but there is much better – not worth the effort though.
3. Middle of the road – I wouldn’t talk you into buying these but I certainly wouldn’t talk you out of them.
4. You should probably go out and buy a box and enjoy the rip – I did! It has some downside but worth the ride.
5. Stop reading and find a box to buy and get to Breaking! What are you waiting on?