Around the net, a lot of people are talking about how amazing Topps Finest turned out to be this year, and I am not going to stand here and say any different. Topps Finest’s design and content have made it into one of the best products released this year so far. That’s not really even that debatable, especially when you consider how utterly boring and uninspired the Panini stuff has been. The odd thing is, one of the best parts of the finest hasnt really received the attention it should have.

Although they are EXTREMELY rare at five copies, the Finest jumbo patches are awesome cards. Despite the fact that they arent perfect, the setup and design of the cards really look awesome. For once, even though Topps bordered each of the elements of the card, it works. However, this begs the question, why wasnt every card designed like this? The dual jersey cards arent really dual jerseys, they are just one swatch separated by two windows. It would have been much cooler if they could have instituted less of the dual swatch cards and just made that one large jersey swatch. It doesnt need to be a patch, but there is no reason to make them all duals, when they could all just as easily be jumbo.  People in this hobby, especially those who love sets like Triple Threads, are obsessed with numbers over size. So to have TWO windows is always more favorable than ONE, even if that one is jumbo sized.

If you dont think that these cards needed to be that much more important, check these out:

Dez Bryant Jumbo Patch Auto /5

Dez Bryant Jumbo Patch Auto /5 #2

Demaryius Thomas Jumbo Auto Patch /5

Sam Bradford Jumbo Auto Patch /5

Tim Tebow Jumbo Patch Auto /5

Jimmy Clausen Jumbo Patch Auto /5

Either way, these cards should have been a larger element in the set, because they definitely rock harder than the normal elements of the product. Topps must have realized this, because they are actually a rare chase in Platinum as well. Although the Platinum version doesnt work as well as the Finest ones, they are still my favorite part of that product too. They are a little less rare at ten copies, but look relatively similar to the ones in Finest. In fact, when previews were released, a lot of people were pissed at how little the designs changed product to product. However, after seeing the final editions, Finest and Platinum really did turn out very different.

The great thing about all of this is that Topps may have some winners outside of the flagship product and the chromes, which wasnt the case at all last year. If you look back over their general calendar, it was rare that a Topps card even came close to hitting the mark when it wasnt part of the sets that we expect to be great every year. Thats at least some progress in the right direction, whereas with Panini stuff, it is going completely the other way. With the release of Chrome hitting next week, its only a matter of time before we see how far they actually have come. If these jumbo patches are any indication, it will be quite far indeed.