It gets to be a holiday when I fall in love with a Panini product that is native to their shop. As a whole, there may not be another company that has had less success in building new product lines, and Impeccable is that one set that is the exception to the rule. Bottom line, this set looks gorgeous, hits all the right notes I would want in a super premium release, and is starting to grab a foot hold with the collectors who are starting to see that it is worth their attention.

Check out these cards:

2017 Panini Impeccable Peyton Manning Auto 7/14

2017 Panini Impeccable Leonard Fournette Dual Patch Auto

2017 Panini Impeccable Deshaun Watson Dual Patch Auto

2017 Panini Impeccable Joe Montana Patch Auto /10

Prior to the last few years, on card autographs with relics were difficult to achieve. Not impossible, but many of the manufacturers probably wanted to avoid headaches this early on in the card year. Instead they saved the headaches for later on, when players were more available to do signings, and design teams had more availability to put the work in.

Impeccable takes what I would expect from a late year product and makes it available at a time where we are starved for worthwhile sets to collect. In 25 years, no one is going to give a flying fuck about XR or Certified Cuts. Hopefully, great looking cards like Impeccable can stand the test of time.

The key is a reduced focus on rookie content (though still present) and an increased focus on established stars and retired players. Because of the notions I outlined over the last few posts, football needs to move away from banking on rookies that have a 99% chance of not being relevant in a longer term perspective.

Everything about this year’s set has been improved, down to the Silver and Gold relic cards that are now much more attractively presented in a horizontal orientation.

Panini’s team just did a great job with this set, and I hope they find a way to bring more new products to the fold that feature work of a similar quality. Im not going to hold my breath, but this set gives me hope that its possible.