This is the best time of year for high end football collectors. Not only is the NFL draft about a month away, but its the time of year when Panini is going to typically bring out their two biggest sets in National Treasures and Flawless. Although I am someone who thinks this would be a much better break around Super Bowl Sunday, this is what we all wait for every year. With sets like Optic Contenders also making waves, it feels like this year is really going to close on a high note.

Check out some of these cards:

2017 National Treasures Patrick Mahomes Rookie Patch Auto Stars and Stripes Logo

2017 National Treasures Alvin Kamara Rookie Patch Auto Stars and Stripes Logo

2017 National Treasures Dalvin Cook Rookie Patch Auto Stars and Stripes Logo

2017 National Treasures Leonard Fournette Booklet Patch Auto /99

2017 National Treasures Drew Brees Auto Patch /25

First off the line boxes started arriving on Friday for those lucky few that got to them, and so far, it looks like this is one of those configurations that is working well. Other FOTL boxes have fallen flat with watered down configurations and not much response from collectors on the exclusive cards. This feels different. The stars and stripes version of the Rookie Patch Autos are great looking, and more importantly, its been tough to find ones that dont have incredible patches in them. It helps that this year’s design is among the better ones I have seen in the last few years, coupled with an Acetate finish that is really good looking.

As for the rest of the set, we are seeing the typical stuff out of NT that comes every year. Booklets, patches, and tons of content, alongside another year of stickers, single jerseys and junk that I still cringe over every time this set comes out. National Treasures suffers from too much content, and since the format shifted to 9-10 cards per pack, 4 of the hits have been relative shit that seems to increase price of the box but adds nothing to the configuration.

Watching the first off the line boxes has been interesting, because some of them are so good and others are just that bad. Having a case with 4 RPAs though is worth the price of admission, especially when other cases of the regular product may only have one or two. The rest of the product looks good, save the jersey cards and other content on the periphery, something that has always been the bane of NT’s existence. Curious to see how much non-rookie on card content is included this year, as it seemed very sticker heavy. I cant even put into words how frustrating that is, especially when we see how beautiful a set like Impeccable is.

We need more hard signed content in a box that costs this much, maybe reserving the stickers for the scrub autos that are never on card. The addition of more non-rookie player worn material doesnt help either, because if a set is going to be game worn, it needs to be this one. I can harp on this all I want, but the fact of the matter is that it almost is worthless to argue. Collectors dont seem to care enough, and that is beyond sad. Panini is also likely limited in their ability to continue getting game used content at a cheap price, but some sets should never face that dilemma. NT has to be the best of the best, and that means player worn non-rookie content should be as limited as stickers should be. I would even go so far as saying Panini has found a way to make a relic version of stickers, changing out game used content for player worn more and more this year. Its true that this content isnt as cheap as it used to be, but that’s where sets like Donruss and Certified Cuts need to be the trash can for the player worn garbage.

Overall, this set continues to be much better after really falling on its face prior to 2013, regardless of how much the cards are worth. Cards like Watson and Mahomes could crack a grand per pull, and that’s an accomplishment in itself. Football just isnt generating the blockbuster stuff like baseball and basketball, and its good to see collectors latching onto the rookies with potential. Lets hope Flawless continues down this path.