[Baseball Nut]

Most media has changed to the letterbox/widescreen format. 2011 Panini Threads Football cards have that feel as every base card is printed landscape, a non-traditional design started last year. What is different from last year is the backs of the cards do not carry that design. They are printed in the traditional portrait manner


We classify this set as trading cards. You can find them at retail outlets and your local card shop. Hobby Boxes come with 24 – 8 card packs and you’ll find at least 4 Autograph or Memorabilia cards per box.


Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

Cedric Benson base, front and back
Notice the shift from landscape to portrait


Adrian Peterson and Nate Burleson photos from their base cards work really well landscape


Numbered parallel #/100 and base of Joe Flacco


Ahmad Bradshaw and Todd Heap, both #/250


Rookie card for T.J. Yates


Numbered Parallels of rookies Stephen Paea and Chris Conte, both #/250


Gridiron Kings inserts of Kevin Boss and Brandon Jacobs


Mark Carrier Heritage Collection


Philadelphia Eagles Triple Threat Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson



Philip Rivers, DeSean Jackson and Mike Wallace Star Factor inserts


Colt McCoy All Rookie Team insert


Generation Numbered Parallel #/100 and insert of Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson

And the hits.

Tim Tebow All Rookie Team Memorabilia #/299



Patrick Willis Gridiron Kings Jersey #/299



Miles Austin Prime Patch #/99



Von Miller Rookie Class Nameplate Letter Patch Auto #/300


Overall Look

Football is definitely the sport to print landscape. Seeing more of the playing field adds to the card but also makes photo selection more difficult. Isolate a player and the card feels empty. While these are some really nicely designed cards from the front, I’m unsure why Panini decided not to carry the landscape design through to the back of the cards this year. I definitely like that look better. The insert cards are really well done, The Heritage Collection, Star Factor and Gridiron Kings inserts are standouts.

Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.

150 base cards, 150 rookies. But 50 of those rookies only appear in hit cards. There are no base rookie cards for Cam Newton, Mark Ingram, Andy Dalton, or any of the other big name players.

Do the hits hold up?

The Rookie Class nameplate autos and Rookie Collection autos are very nice. The rest of the hits are mostly material memorabilia cards, which makes sense for a product named Threads. Besides the red-hot rookies, the coveted, rare pulls are the Troy Polamalu autographs.

Will you want to collect them all?

The 150 player base set and some of the inserts are desirable, but without the important rookies on base cards, you might just stop there. Unless you are interested in putting together your favorite rookie’s complete nameplate, in which case you’ll be doing a lot of aftermarket shopping.

Rating

3 1/2 out of 5

If all of the elements of 2010-11 Panini Threads Football were as good as the fronts of the base cards and some of the inserts, this would be a tremendous set. The card back design and lack of regular cards for top name rookies detract from the overall appeal.




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