Long after the Super Bowl, the final NFL trading card product of the 2018 season will hit the market–once again inside a metal briefcase that’s become its calling card. The NFL edition of 2018 Panini Flawless football will pack ten cards–all hits–with a few new concepts making their debut.
One of the more anticipated products of the year thanks to a stellar rookie class, Flawless puts the bow on the 2018 football card calendar. A checklist and link to find it online are at the bottom of this story.
2018 Flawless Football Basics
Flawless is due out on April 17. On average, boxes will contain six autographs, two gem cards and two memorabilia cards. There will be two boxes per case. Every card in the product will be numbered to 25 or less and each autograph card will be signed directly on card. Cut autographs from former greats will also be in the mix. Panini says Flawless will include “more patch autographs and 1/1s than ever before.”
Autographs
Players who have signed cards inside Flawless will include Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, John Elway, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice and Patrick Mahomes.
The cut autograph checklist will include deceased former stars including Walter Payton, Derrick Thomas, Reggie White, Johnny Unitas, Pat Tillman and Sean Taylor, among others.
There will be some new booklet cards to look for including Rookie Booklets, Veteran Booklets, Signature Gems, Flawless Duals and Super Bowl Gems all featuring on-card autographs. The Rookie and Veteran Booklets will be numbered to 10 or less with lower numbered variations that include Team, Brand and League logos.
Rookie Patch Autographs and Dual Patch Autographs will have parallels including Silver (# to 20); Ruby (# to 15); Sapphire (# to 10); Emerald (# to 5) and 1/1 Platinum.
There will also be Patch Autographs that showcase veteran players with oversized swatches and the same parallels at above.
Star Swatch Signatures put the patch dead center with the autograph at the bottom while Career Progressions skip the patch but instead show multiple images of players at various stages of their career. Parallels for each include Silver (# to 20); Ruby (# to 15); Sapphire (# to 10); Emerald (# to 5) and 1/1 Platinum versions to chase.
The 1/1 Super Bowl Gems booklets feature the respective Super Bowl logo embedded with diamonds on one side and an autograph from either Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers on the other.
Gem Cards
Panini brings out the gem cards again in 2018 Flawless football. Rookies will come in Sapphire (# to 15); Diamond (# to 10); Emerald (# to 5); Chocolate Diamond (# to 4); Canary Yellow (# to 3) and 1/1 Platinum versions. New gems for 2018 will include MVPs along with players from the Bears, Broncos, Giants, Eagles and Chiefs.
2018 Flawless NFL boxes–er, briefcases–are selling online for around $2,000 thanks to that strong rookie class.
2018 Panini Flawless Football Checklist
Related Stories:
Panini Contenders Football SP Production Runs 2015-2018
New Set to Collect? Prepaid Visa Cards Feature NFL Players
2018 Panini Immaculate NFL Preview
What’s Hot: National Baseball Card Day Packs ‘Em in…and The Top 5 List
2018 Panini XR Football Preview
Sports Card Release Calendar: July 25-August 7
Sports Card Release Roundup 5/4/18 -5/16/18
Sports Card Release Calendar 4/4/18 – 4/17/18
