New to collecting Football

[fuzzai]

Hey Folks,

I'm new to collecting football, i do collect hockey and know my way around that side of the hobby, but i have a few questions for the seasoned vets here...

Im way up north, and the owner of the LCS has advised me anything i want, he can order in from his distributor, he just doesn't keep much football in as it wouldn't go like hockey does up here.

Hockey, you typically want Upper Deck based product for example.

In football, who is "the" company? I assume there will be arguments on this, but what im looking for, are Rookies, Autos, jerseys/patch etc.

So for arguments sake, the store has a box of 2017 Panini Absolute Football, the box with the 3 boxes inside it. Looks like a decent product. The other 2015 Panini Contenders, and a 2017 Gold Standard.

Any other brands/boxes i should ask him to maybe order me in to start off in this hobby?

Thanks for the read folks.

Cheers.
James.

[blackhorseson]

Most of football is Panini now. Topps no longer has a contract, and Upper Deck has been doing mainly college-pre rookie sets. Not sure if Bowman is still doing NFL. Haven't seen a list of new releases yet.

[pwaldo]

Panini is the only maker off NFL cards now. Usually the very high end products are in the most demand for football rookies but stuff like Prizm isn't bad for a more affordable option. But in football it is much much much cheaper to just buy the guy you want than to break because a lot of breaks contain guys that were cut in training camp or are like the 3rd QB or backup running back. A lot of duds with a few gems mixed in.

[Rdaveigajr]

The only Licensed Brand is Panini they have NFL and Collegiate Football License. Topps (they own Bowman) no longer does football, Upper Deck I think only does USA Football, which I think is high schoolers, Leaf has also has a High School brand All-American, Leaf Also has a few college products but logos and such are air brushed off. As far as what products to look for that depends on what you are looking for (Player/Team collecting, set building, Etc) and also your budget. As for me I mostly collect unsigned RCs and Rookie Refractors. I'm not really into auto's and relics much(when I get them I usually trade them for non-auto RCs), So I steer clear of the higher end stuff. My favorite product is Topps Chrome (2015 was the last year), so when ever I can pick a box for a decent price I do. Prizm, Optic and Select pretty much filled the void of Topps Chrome. Lots of Refractors(Prizm and Select are they're called "Prizms" Optic they're called "Holo" or simply what ever color they are like "Optic Black" for example)

[fuzzai]

Thanks for the info folks.

So lets say i wanted a 2016 box to try to get Wentz, if im not looking high end, what would be a decent box or boxes to ask the LCS to bring in then?

[Rdaveigajr]

Optic, is about 120, Select and Prizm have shot up in price to about 170 each

[Jameis1of1]

National Treasures is the KING of football cards, followed by Playoff Contenders ...

[bakemeister52]

National Treasures is the cream of the crop but you will pay for it but usually you get some good stuff for the money!

[pwaldo]

Optic, is about 120, Select and Prizm have shot up in price to about 170 each

Geez is the football market this hot or are the other products such junk that everyone is gravitating towards these thus driving up the cost of them?

[Rabs]

I've always liked Certified as well. Otherwise, I'd say Optic and Prizm are good options and not too expensive compared to something like National Treasures.

I really miss Topps as does everyone else it seems like.