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Panini Contenders football is a staple of the football release schedule. While Rookie Ticket Autographs are the big draw, base and insert collectors have plenty to choose from in this release!
The Breakdown
If autographs are what you want, then hobby boxes are what you need to track down. For $500-$600 (at the time of release), collectors can expect to receive five autographs in each box. Here is a link to eBay where you can check out what boxes are currently selling for. There are hundreds of different autographs in the set as well as several parallels with more limited scarcity. While the checklist includes the biggest rookie names such as Mac Jones and Justin Fields, it also includes a large number of defensive, special teams, linemen, etc which don’t have as wide a reach of market appeal. That being said, if you are a specialty collector, Contenders provides some of the only cards and autographs some of those players will ever see. In my opinion, this makes Contenders a product will suited to buying singles of the players you want vs. buying sealed boxes, especially at current market prices.
2021 Panini Contenders Jerry Rice Gladiators insert card.
There is a 100 card base set of veterans and stars. On their own, they look pretty nice, however if you are a long term Contenders collector you may notice that they look very similar to past releases. Some collectors love that continuity, and some prefer a more unique design each year.
The ten insert sets are where the creativity stars to come out. Yes, the MVP Contenders, Round Numbers, ROY Contenders, and MVP Contenders are familiar names, but others such as Gladiators, Supernatural, and Power Players are a more fresh look at stars of yesterday and today. A variety of parallels exist for both the base and insert cards with varying levels of scarcity ranging from unnumbered Red Zone parallels all the way to Super Bowl Ticket 1/1s. There are only four or five different parallels, so if you are a rainbow collector, this product could be a nice alternative to the 50+ parallels we see in some of the chromium based releases.
As mentioned above, the base set only includes current players, but legends such as Randy Moss, LaDainian Tomlinson, Bob Griese, and Bill Romanowski are a few of the names found in the insert checklist.
I didn’t open any boxes this year, but I did pick up a nice stack of base and inserts out of the dime box at a local LCS. As I often do, I bindered up a few card for the PC and listed all the rest on Sportlots! There weren’t a ton listed at the time, and the majority of them were snapped up by set builders within a couple days. So it does seem there is a fairly strong demand for the base and inserts as well.
Wrapping it Up
I love the diverse and expansive autograph checklist which Contenders delivers. It provides some unique autos to obtain, but it also makes it a risky box to break. Back when things were a little more “normal” you could bust a case and increase your odds of pulling some of the bigger names, but that is a pretty expensive undertaking for the average collector in today’s market. So my recommendation is to skip the boxes and focus on singles from eBay, Sportlots, and COMC. Set and player collectors also have some pretty nice base and inserts to chase at affordable prices.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Checklist
You can see the full autograph, base, and insert checklist at Beckett.com by following this link!
Also, if you haven’t heard, I started a new Podcast called the WaxPackHero Sports Card Minute! It’s available here directly on the site at the Podcast link at the top of the page, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon, and TuneIn! Check it out, let me know what you think, and tell your friends!