When it comes to the beginning of the year, Elite can be pretty nice to have with nothing else on the market. It is usually one of the first Panini products to have some nice stuff, as Prestige and other sets rarely impress. With the new addition of some extra content, Elite looks like it has improved considerably over previous years.

Here are some of the big hits so far:

2014 Elite Teddy Bridgewater Acetate Inscriptions Auto

2014 Elite Jadeveon Clowney On Card Auto RC

2014 Elite Johnny Manziel Status Die Cut Blue /98

2014 Elite Sammy Watkins On Card Auto RC

2014 Elite Walter Payton Throwback Threads Patch – Horrid design, wow.

Obviously, the on card autos for the base rookies are a humongous upgrade over the normal sticker autos that we usually see. Although parallels are not on card, this one element is a big win. I think the design turned out pretty nice, and I think that when all is said and done, these cards should hold value more than previous years.

The acetate cards remain my favorite in the product as I have always been a big fan of anything that uses this medium. Although I dont think the sticker autos are anything special this year, the on card autos more than make up for it. It has yet to be determined if there are a lot of them or just a few, as I was worried when none popped up in any of the early Panini breaks or case breaks.

Elite still isnt what it could be, as the foil is a huge distraction that should be removed, as are a lot of the poorly named inserts. However, no one really busts Elite for those reasons. Seriously, if they could print it on Chrome like stock, or even just matte stock, it would be so much better, even more so if they could drop the price by about 25 bucks.

With my birthday coming up this week, ill bust a box or two for shits and giggles, hopefully ill be able to walk away with something pretty nice.