Birthday Box Break - 2018 Panini Certified Football

As I went out to renew the sticker on my car's license plate, I decided that I would use some of the money my mom gave me for my birthday and go to a local card store that I don't manage to make it to too often. They usually have a little football so I thought I would see what they might have.

As it turns out, they only had one box of 2018 football product, and that was a box of Certified. It was a good price, so I decided to pick it up.

Baker Mayfield on the cover, that's a plus. I don't own a card of him in a Browns uniform yet. I hope he's in the box. 

Ten packs, with five cards per pack. So few cards. Four will be autograph or memorabilia cards. Without seeing any breaks, I expect that it will probably be two of each. I guess I'll see soon enough.

Let's see what I get!

Pack 1:

Well, it didn't take long to find my first hit. It is good to get an autograph of a rookie quarterback, but unfortunately it isn't one of the big five from this year's draft. The Luke Falk card is numbered out of 99.

The Isaiah Crowell card still has him in a Browns uniform, so it will go into my collection.

Getting Wentz and McCarron is funny, as there are a lot of Browns fans that were upset that the Browns passed on Wentz, and then the Browns tried to trade for McCarron last season, but botched the paperwork before the trade deadline. That doesn't make either of their cards fit my collection though.

I like the Namath insert.

Let's take a quick look at the backs.

Okay, the base card back is fine, but nowhere on the card does it give the player's position. I also like the backs to say the player's college and where they were drafted.

I guess it is good that the Luke Falk card gives his position on the back, but that back is very generic and boring.

The Namath back is the best of the bunch.

Pack 2:

Again with two quarterbacks for my base cards. The foil is tough to read on the base cards, they are Aaron Rodgers, T.Y. Hilton, and Deshaun Watson.

A parallel of DeAndre Hopkins, numbered out of 499.

An insert of a hated Steeler.

Nothing for my collection here.

Pack 3:

A good pack, but again, nothing for my collection.

I'm not going to complain about pulling Miller and Gurley for base cards, along with a Taven Bryan rookie card numbered out of 999.

A very nice hit of Ronald Jones, numbered out of 25.

The J.J. Watt insert talks about the money that Watt raised for Hurricane Harvey relief. It's a nice card.

Pack 4:

Allen, Beckham and Green give me a trio of receivers for the base cards, and the Mixon parallel numbered out of 225 makes this a Bengals heavy pack.

I really like the Bradley Chubb Gold Team insert.

Pack 5:

Nice to get the Tyrod Taylor card. Unfortunately it is a double as I picked it up at the card show on Sunday. Jimmy Graham and Marcus Mariota with him.

I'm surprised to find a third hit in the first half of the box. It's a nice color swatch, but the card itself doesn't really blow me away.

I like the Freeman insert.

Pack 6:

Base cards of Robert Woods, Landon Collins, and Andy Dalton.

I really like the Bruce Matthews parallel, numbered out of 225. Nothing I liked more than watching Cleveland/Houston games and seeing Bruce go up against Clay. Now Clay needs to join Bruce in the Hall of Fame.

The Seal of Approval inserts are nice. I'm not going to complain about getting another one. The back talks about how Hunt's father is named after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It also mentions that this Kareem has the middle initials A.J.

Pack 7:

The base cards provide three different tales - Mahomes and his hot start, Bell and his holdout, and Edelman back to playing again.

My fourth hit of the box is a rookie. I guess that's not bad, but it is a rather plain jersey card. Sadly I couldn't pull a Browns hit.

Another nice Gold Team insert.

Pack 8:

Base cards of Chandler Jones and Alvin Kamara, and a rookie card of Duke Dawson numbered out of 999. Dawson is on injured reserve.

 

A couple of nice veterans in Charlie Joyner and Drew Pearson. The Joiner card is a parallel, numbered out of 499.

Pack 9:

Base cards of Matt Ryan, Jerick McKinnon and Sean Lee.

The Immortals card of Rocky Bleier is the base version, numbered out of 999. The D.J. Moore Gold Team card is the Blue parallel, numbered out of 50.

Well, I'm down to one pack left, and will keep hoping for Baker Mayfield. Let's see what the last pack brings.

Pack 10:

First impression of the pack, no Browns. Regular base cards of Cam Newton, Kirk Cousins and Jalen Ramsey.

But what's that? A 1 of 1 Black parallel of Alex Smith? Wow! I don't think I've pulled a 1 of 1 that wasn't a printing plate. Pretty cool.

And a final Seal of Approval card of Case Keenum. After opening this last pack, I looked at the checklist for this insert set, and saw that there is a Jarvis Landry card. I'll have to find it.

So, I definitely got some nice cards in the box, but didn't get any parallels or hits for my actual collection. I feel some buyer's remorse. It's fun to open a box, but the money could have got me more for my collection at last weekend's show, or on COMC or Sportlots. Pretty much everything from the box is available for trade.

Along with my box, the store owner threw in two promo packs of 2018 NFL Player of the Day. Here are the four cards that I got:

It will be bittersweet for one of my friends when I give him this Khalil Mack card. He still can't believe the Raiders traded him.