2010 Panini Gridiron Gear Football

Schedule Release Date: December 1, 2010
Box Configuration: 5 cards per pack, 18 packs per box
SRP: @$ 90/box

Box Break:
18 Rookies (1 per pack)
9 Inserts/Parallels
2 Material Cards
2 Autograph Cards

My Thoughts:
I think Panini might actually be listening to the collectors finally and making the adjustments to their product. The base cards contain decent images and the angles are kept to a minimum. There are a plethora of parallels so Panini still has some work to do but things seem to be getting better.

The Game Breakers inset looks pretty cool and can eventually turn in to a nice design with some work. The angles, while still there, are not as glaring as before. The NFL Gridiron Signature set is pretty cool, I like the autograph on the gridiron look, and unfortunately the checklist for the insert is just fair. The NFL Pro Gridiron Signatures checklist is significantly better because HOF players and young stars are included. Panini probably should have just dropped the NFL Gridiron Signature insert and only went with the NFL Pro Gridiron Signature set.

Pros:
4 Hits per box

Patches marked as “Prime”

Reasonable sized checklist containing only the top players on each team

Some of the autographs appear to be on-card

Pull-out autographed jersey swatches in the Rookie Gridiron Gear

The NFL Gridiron Signatures set is pretty cool


Cons:
Many many many parallels. There are 13 parallels with the base set alone.

Small checklist limits the players who appear in the set.

Some of the autographs appear to be lick-em stick-em autographs

Rating:
I rate this set 3 ½ out of 5 because there are some positives to the set. With a decent checklist, some cool inserts and with each box producing a significant amount of hits for @$90 a box you really cannot go wrong. There are some downsides to the set and this is where Gridiron Gear looses some on the rating. To many parallels and some of the awkward angles still make an appearance in the set.