Flawless Football comes in a briefcase. That’s the one-sentence review. Keep reading if you want to know more about what makes a product so unique (and expensive) than it’s delivered in a briefcase. Here’s the 2021 Panini Flawless Football review and checklist.

2021 Panini Flawless Football Introduction

Flawless is the crown jewel of Panini’s annual releases, and you can take “jewel” literally: this is a product known for including precious gems in the cards themselves. Flawless was first released in 2014 as Panini began to expand its lineup of football products. Believe it or not, it’s older than Optic and many mainstream brands.

It’s not as popular to the masses as other optichrome brands, but it’s rare and expensive. Most collectors can’t afford to pay the insane five-figure price tag for a box (erm, briefcase) of these cards, and it also has a significantly smaller print run.

Every Flawless card is numbered, further highlighting the scarcity of this product.

READ: 2022 Panini Flawless Football

In short, this is a brand that is not for everybody because of its price, but for those buying into the high-end card market, Flawless is as good as it gets.

Here is the famous Flawless briefcase. Look for one on eBay. 

2021 Panini Flawless Football Review Of The Release Formats

Want a 2020 Panini Flawless hobby box? See what the asking price is on eBay. 

See what they are going for on StockX.

Flawless 2021 keeps the ball rolling and builds on the previous years of the super-premium product’s history.

This year, all cards are numbered to 25 or less. Yes, twenty-five or less. But that’s what you expect for a box that will release at such a high price point.

Here is the rundown:

• Cards per box
• 6 autos
• 2-3 memorabilia
• 1-2 gem cards
• All cards /25
• Preselling for around $13,000

2021 Panini Flawless Football Checklist

Flawless doesn’t have many sets. Therefore, we can walk through each of them.

First is the base set. Except, every card has a gemstone. The 2021 Panini Flawless Football Gems is the base set, and each card has a different rare material based on its rarity.

The cards start at /20 and are as follows:

• Base Ruby – #/20
• Base Sapphire – #/15
• Base Diamond – #/10
• Base Emerald – #/5
• Base Platinum – 1/1

The Platinum cards are 1/1. Look for more Platinum Joe Burrow rookies on eBay. 

2021 Panini Flawless Football Review And Checklist: The Autos

What are the best Flawless Football RPAs on eBay right now?

 The gemstone base cards are well and good. But a Flawless box will only pay off when you hit a big auto.

You may be lucky to pull a Rookies Gem Signatures, a rookie autograph embedded with a gemstone. These have the same scarcity and gemstone tiers as the first.

From there, it somehow gets even better. The Rookie patch autographs are the big draw here, including the Platinum 1/1 NFL shield edition (the closest thing NFL has to a logoman). There’s also the Rookie Dual Patch Autographs which features 2 patches and an autograph – all of which are on-card for this product.

There’s a veteran patch autograph and veteran dual patch autograph to bring legends and current stars into the mix, too. Flawless Dual Autographs typically combine a legend with a rookie or two NFL stars, and All-Pro Ink is reserved for the best players in the league. Other cards include Flawless Duals, Rookie Booklets, Signatures Gems, Super Bowl Gems, and Veteran Booklets.

Finally, the Red, White, and Blue Booklet cards are debuting this year with the NFL shield, a swatch, and an autograph. According to early reports, this is a QB-only checklist.

Looking for a Trevor Lawrence Flawless auto? See what they have on eBay. 

2021 Panini Flawless Football Review And Checklist: The Investment Guide

Investing in Flawless is certainly the high-end of Football investing, but what strategy should you use to take on the brand?

This section will look at the different options for investing in Flawless.

Investing In 2021 Panini Flawless Football Sealed Boxes

Flawless is a somewhat tricky hobby box to price because there aren’t many boxes selling. You can look at the asking price for previous years. However, there is a big difference between the asking and resell expenses.

For example, the most recent sale of a 2020 box was for $9,500, but the asking price for the same product at Blowout cards is $19,000 upon writing – that’s a 2x markup. Recent sales for 2019 hobby boxes are hovering around $6,000 per box.

With those numbers in mind, I’d heavily caution against buying a box of 2021 Flawless at retail price. Sure, it’s a fantastic brand with many big-time cards. However, the price creates a barrier to entry that eliminates roughly 90% of sports card buyers. Because of this, it will be hard to find a second-hand buyer of the sealed product, and the price will suffer accordingly.

Investing In 2021 Panini Flawless Football Rookies

I have a general rule for rookie investing: invest in numbered parallels (hopefully graded) or low-numbered autographs.

Flawless knocks the autographs out of the park. When every card is numbered to, and the autos are on-card, any of the Flawless rookie autos pass my oversimplified sports card investing test.

The caution, once again, is that a nice rookie autograph from Flawless could cost five figures. Therefore, you need to be smart and in line with your budget before pulling the trigger.

Peyton Manning is a legend, but how much do his Flawless autos go for? Check them out on eBay. 

You can immediately see the problem here. Most cards are worth about $100. Many of the most desirable go for under $5,000 even if you hit them. So getting back your over $10,000 investment is unlikely.

Bottomline Of The 2021 Panini Flawless Football Review And Checklist

Flawless is the highest of high-end cards. The star-studded (gemstone pun) cards not only come in a briefcase and are numbered to 25 or less, but they feature a great mix of cards from rookies, veterans, and even retired legends.

The cards are not a great hold because of the small buyer market, and they’re an incredibly risky rip, but if you have the budget to do so, investing in a Flawless auto or RPA could be an excellent long-term hold… and perhaps the crown jewel of your collection.

2021 Panini Flawless Football Checklist

Here is the provisional checklist. It may be subject to change before release.

Rookie Patch Autographs Set Checklist

Justin Fields
Mac Jones
Trevor Lawrence
Zach Wilson

Rookie Gems Signatures Set Checklist