Pack Break: 2018 Panini Contenders

Today has been a rough day for me as I had to put down my cat of nearly 8 years. I work from home most days and he was my work buddy if you will. He'd follow me around the house and loved to "voice his opinion" when I'd get on a conference call. My boss would even ask at times if my cat would be joining the group on calls.

I wasn't planning on blogging today, but I'm trying to keep myself busy so my mind doesn't wander too much. Part of keeping busy is cleaning up all the cards, packs, boxes that have accumulated around my couch in my game room. This is wear I sit most of the time to watch TV and just be lazy in general so this is where I also rip most of my packs. While cleaning up various stacks I ran across this pack of 2018 Contenders football I picked up late in the NFL season last year. I classify it as one of those "why the heck not" type purchases. The 2018 rookie class has turned out pretty good so perhaps I pulled a good RC and just forgot? Well nearly a year later here I am sharing the contents and my thoughts.

I've never really paid much attention to the Contenders brand in any sport before. Upon looking at the first card out of the pack I do see some resemblance to past years, but I can also see why some collectors are drawn to this set. 

The card essentially has a white boarder which is a nice touch. It's got a decent size action shot of the player and the logo right on the front. The "ticket" part w/ the section, row and seat along with a little black and white photo of the player underneath.

Card back has the same photo along with a little info on the player. There is a write up about the player near the bottom, along with their college listed.

I do like how the colors used match the team, but the same image is used three times if you count the small black & white photo. This seems to be a cop out move by Panini and I would think a product like this should be better.

Ugh...why did I have to pull a Cowboys card? I don't really have anything against Ezekiel Elliott or anything. Look at the former QB of the Giants. Who would've thunk he would be benched for a rookie. Not a fan, but I was surprised to eventually see him find the pine.

Well, at least one card so far will be staying in the collection...that would be Case Keenum. He'll go in my Faith Brothers subcollection. What can I say about Terrell Suggs...the dude was a beast on the field. I can recall several plays in my head where he wrecked my Carolina Panthers.

When I saw the Chargers lightning bolt on the card I was hoping it was Phillip Rivers, but nope it ended up being Joey Bosa. Don't get to see him play seeing how I live on the east coast, but I know he's a good player. Mike Evans on the other hand I get to see quite often with him playing in the NFL South. I always felt like the guy should be a bigger star than he is.

Pulled one insert, square in the middle of the pack. DaeSean Hamilton Rookie of the Year Contenders. Don't know much about the guy other than he didn't win ROY!

In retrospect this could have been a fun football set to build. I don't often want to build football sets, but I still wish I had bought a few more packs if nothing else. Would've been nice to pull some Panthers players and of course a Lamar Jackson RC.