Much to my happiness, Leaf has not given up on football, despite Panini making things pretty difficult for competitors. After announcing an exclusive with Leonard Fournette earlier this month, Panini seems to be on the same track they were in Basketball. I would be scared if I were them, as Leaf’s products made them look completely silly last time this situation rolled around.

These cards were AWESOME last year, and the wax is barely available unless you are willing to pay a huge price:

2016 Leaf Metal Draft Dak Prescott Auto RC BGS 9.5

2016 Leaf Metal Draft Ezekiel Elliott Auto Green Refractor BGS 9.5

2016 Leaf Metal Draf Tom Brady Auto BGS 9.5

Like we saw last year, Leaf’s autographs are all on card, where Panini’s will be sticker, unless something changes. The design looks similar to last year, which is a good thing, as I think the Leaf Metal and Trinity looks were MILES ahead of any retread products Panini put out. I love that they run low prints of their products, and the cards are basically copies of Topps Chrome. That’s a good thing, as they did a really good job retouching photos and making the cards look attractive even without logos.

The issue, as always, is that no one knows who to collect before the draft, other than names and potential targets for their team. Obviously the Top QBs like Trubisky, Watson and Kizer will be good players to chase, and that list might include a few lineman and receivers as well. Even with Fournette, this class looks exceptionally mediocre from a potential perspective, but so did 2016 originally as well. I dont think we are going to have Dak and Zeke 2.0, but we might get some good rookies that always seem to come through the fray early on.

Im a huge Leaf fan, and hope they continue to produce sets like this – if not only to stick it to their main competitors of what a good looking 100% on card product can look like.