I felt like I took a time machine back to the mid-90s when the new Zenith Football cards arrived in the shop.
The Zenith name goes way back but Panini is using it now and apparently there’s enough to go around as the shop was able to acquire several cases, something that’s rarely possible these days.
Each box consists of one shiny, silver, six-card pack that promises two autographs, with one being a patch auto. Needless to say, this will be a really brief box break.
The first card up was a base card of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. The first thing that hit me was the glare of the card, which is reminiscent of the new Cornerstones Baseball product.
They are actually hard to see/read from certain angles. The base card design has an orangeish background with yard markers running at an angle from top to bottom, which is a little different.
The second card in the pack was a nice base RPA of Patriots rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe.
Although the autograph is on a sticker, It’s ahorizontally designed card with a two-color patch numbered to 299. Although this is a pretty standard format for RPAs, it’s a nice looking card. Now we just have to get Bailey back on the field.
The next card up was a copper rookie auto of Jaguars defensive rookie and Chad Muma, numbered 25 of 50.
The linebacker had just under 30 tackles and a sack and a half this season in Jacksonville
We really hit the time machine with the next card as we pulled a really nice Joe Burrow Pacific Revolution insert.
The designs have been updated a bit for the new millenium and it’s a really nice sharp looking card of Joey B.
Next up was a Mosaic looking gold Thunder and Lightning card of Denver Broncos star quarterback Russell Wilson and his wideout for Jerry Jeudy. It’s a horizontal card with both players featured with thunder (not visible) and lightning (visible) in the background. It’s numbered to 10.
While Wilson’s NFL reputation took a bit of a hit last year, with head coach Sean Payton now at the helm, the Broncos future looks promising.
The final card in the pack is another Patriot rookie, this time we found Marcus Jones RC in its shiny base form.
The rookie cornerback had a two picks and a number of tackles this year for New England.
With a price tag currently sitting between $260 and $300 for six cards, this one is a bit of a gamble and we didn’t exactly land on 21. It’s a rush to rip a slightly more expensive product, though and in this case, a nice walk down memory lane. Hopefully your luck will be better than ours.
Check out sports card boxes of all kinds in Sports Zone’s online store here.