Let me start this off by saying that Brian Gray has a history of going big. From the first look at the sell sheet for 2016 Leaf Metal Draft, its clear that he is ready to make quite the statement. Not only is he excited to release a prospect based football product in the midst of Panini ramping up their exclusive, but he has a new future HOF on his roster to sell the product further.

I have been a fan of this set for a while, here are some of the previous cards:

2015 Leaf Metal Draft Jameis Winston Auto Green Refractor BGS 9.5

2012 Leaf Metal Draft Russell Wilson Auto Silver /99

2014 Leaf Metal Draft Derek Carr Purple Auto /25

2015 Leaf Metal Draft Marcus Mariota Gold Auto 1/1

Personally, I think that this upcoming draft class is going to be mid to weak in terms of strength of the talent. We all know that sleepers are everywhere, and a big game can set things off, but there are no Winstons and Mariotas this time around. At least, that’s what it looks like on paper.

Adding Tom Brady as a hard signed autograph to a product like this will sell a dramatically higher amount of boxes, even if the jerseys are retouched to remove logos. Brady has signed a bit more as of late for Topps and Panini, but this is the first time he has signed outside of the normal big companies in a long time. Maybe ever.

Overall, the design looks great, as it has for a number of years. Brian and his design team have done great work making the Metal cards attractive since the beginning, and 2016 is no exception. Although I think the inserts are quite rough in the way they look, the base is what matters. Im excited to see how the set does, as it should be one of the first new class based products of the year.