If you havent been online since the release of 2014 National Treasures Football, you have missed a considerable reaction to a group of missing cards that have yet to surface. As of 3pm on 4/10, some 3 days after the first cards from the set hit eBay, there have been zero Odell Beckham and Teddy Bridgewater rookie patch autos or booklet autos listed for sale or posted on a public forum.

Although both rookies have other cards in the product that are live (all of which are stickers or redemptions for other cards), the redemptions for the rookie patch autos have yet to show up in any of the boxes broken and posted on any of the public mediums.

Here is a search for Teddy Bridgewater in National Treasures.

Here is a search for Odell Beckham in National Treasures.

No group breaker, no message board post, no twitter posts, and no eBay auctions have surfaced with a redemption for any of the base rookie patch autos, parallel rookie patch autos, booklet patch autos, booklet patch auto parallels or the like. NONE.

To provide some color to those who say its still early, every other rookie has had at least four posted, some many more than that. I have collected Teddy the entire year, through all 30+ products, and his absence has never happened in this fashion, even in the more severely short printed Flawless set. This is not a coincidence in my opinion, as it just seems too far fetched that one has yet to show up for either player.

Panini has confirmed to shop owners and others that the cards are in the product, despite every indication that there is something seriously wrong. In the wake of a real explanation, there are a few theories floated by users on Twitter and the boards:

• Cards Held Back: Citing similar situations in Immaculate Basketball and National Treasures Basketball, collectors are saying that there is a second wave of NT cases that have yet to be shipped to distributors that are packed with cards from these two players.
• Holding the Cases Hostage: From multiple posts on the message boards, collectors have heard that to get access to the second wave of cases, they will have to buy allocations of one of Panini’s previous under performing releases.
• Huge Mistake: Packout issues have caused the cards to be allocated in an odd manner that may not have been captured in QC. Collation has contributed to cards being packed in a certain section of the run that has yet to hit the market.
• Cards dont exist: Panini planned on having the cards in the product, but due to lack of signing agreements, decided not to have ODB as a part of the RPA checklist (Panini has said this is not the case to a few different people).

I personally dont know what to believe, but surely there is an explanation out there. There could be a giant impact to distributors, group breakers, and collectors based on what is gong to happen, and Panini needs to tread carefully here to avoid another debacle like what we saw when “mislabeled” cards were inserted into Flawless football.

If Panini is deliberately scheming to keep the cards for a second wave, I dont even have words for that. Although it may not be technically illegal, its definitely shady and unethical, especially considering that these are the two biggest players on the RPA checklist. I cant see them doing this, as it is just too obvious of a stunt to pull. It would damage their brand more than it would help sales.

Similarly, if the cards just dont exist, its the easiest out for them, but its one that is going to tank the value of their boxes by a significant margin. Because checklists arent a guarantee that the cards are there, I think its the direction I would go with. Then, when the cards show up on the rewards point store, its a situation that can be written off more easily. There will be a huge backlash none-the-less, but its a backlash that can be managed. If the cards were held hostage in exchange for buying other products, that is an indefensible decision to try to battle.

Eventually, someone will pull one of these cards, or Panini will address the controversy directly. A collector has already reached out to them, and received a deflection of a response, but no word has officially received. Until we see the card or we see the statement, the conspiracy theories will continue.

At least we know that at one point, the cards were planned to be included. What happened between then and now is still a mystery.