Panini Crown Royale football has come out again featuring some of the best die-cut and autographed patch cards of the year. With some new features that are sure to impress die-cut aficionados and autographs from one heck of a rookie class, this product is loaded with things collectors love most. Hits, die-cuts, and low numbered parallels. Want to see what we pulled in your typical box break? Here we go.
Design:
The design is classic and something that is changed so subtly, that you are going to miss any little tweaks they make to the product. I’ve always loved the die-cut designs so really there isn’t much to complain about there on this side. This year, I really like the look of the inserts and the lettering and other new designs they’ve used. They went away from some of the classics and really found some great looking cards like that Clay Matthews below. I also really like the die-cut jersey cards, keeping with that tradition. Oh, and you may have missed it last year, but the parallels weren’t numbered. A very fair complaint on my part about the product, and it was remedied this year with numbering. Thank you!
Checklist:
Every product this year can stand up to the checklist scrutiny because of the fantastic rookie class and their beautiful play on the field this year. That would drive sales for every product no matter what the sport. My only issue is, once again, there is too much rookie content. Again, I open a $100 box with four hits, and pull all rookie hit cards. I still find this to be unacceptable, especially when 85% of the products are like this. There will be ranting soon on this, trust me.
Value:
The hero of the product is obviously the rookie silhouettes. Ours was a redemption so we can’t show it off, but we’ll be definitely showing it off when it arrives because it is former Oregon Duck LaMichael James! Can’t wait to see that one. But the value of the product comes in with that great rookie class. If it wasn’t for that, this product would be far from that considering all the rookie hits you can pull from the product. This year’s rookies may carry the products, but next year it may not be so lucky.
Overall:
Overall, the product continues to keep the nostalgia alive while producing some beautiful signatures in the rookie silhouettes. Panini continues to innovate with new designs on the inserts, which are definitely at their peak this year then the past years of this product. But again, like many Panini products, content seems to be lacking. Too many rookies, not enough veterans. Again, this year is fine with all that top rookie talent. Next year there needs to be a shift due to the lesser rookie class, or there will be unhappy collectors. All products across the board need more veteran content. We can only wait and see.
A big thanks goes out to Panini America for providing this product for us to review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of the best social media people on the planet.
You can also find the full checklist of this product over at the Cardboard Connection.
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But for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the cards we pulled. (Not pictured: LaMichael James Rookie Silhouettes Patch/Auto Redemption)
