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2022 Prizm Football Review: Why Prizm Is Still King Of Sports Cards

2022 Prizm Football is finally expected to release in March of 2023, a solid month after the 2022 NFL Season wrapped up. While we named this product the #1 NFL card brand to invest in, it still makes rookie investing less fun when the products release after all the players have played their rookie season and the ROY hardware had already gone home.

Nonetheless, Prizm 2022 football is still the bright spot in a below-average draft class.  And while last year’s product released at $1600 per box, this year’s Prizm release is asking for only $750, setting it up to be a decent investment. 

Here’s our full breakdown on this year’s Prizm release. 

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Prizm Football product introduction

Prizm has been the king of basketball and football products since 2012. In many ways, Panini defined the hobby with this product for over a decade.

And make no mistake, we all have qualms with Prizm — the quality control has gone into free-fall over the last few years — but it’s still the best blend of high-end potential and affordable entry price on the market, combining mass appeal with a reasonable price point.

One key for Prizm to maintain its value is that it reaches the mass market with affordable retail offerings. You can find blasters, hangers, and mega boxes at your local Walmart or Target

The “everybody can get a taste” effect is what has made Prizm such a homerun. Whether you’re looking to spend $40 on a blaster or $750 on a hobby, you can rip some Prizm. Think of it this way: The new Marvel movie might not win any Oscars, but it’s crazy popular because it’s something everybody can enjoy.

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Why 2022 Panini Prizm Football is the biggest release of the year

Prizm’s history stretches back almost as far as Panini’s involvement in NBA and NFL cards, and to celebrate the release, let’s take a quick look back.

Prizm was released in 2012 as part of Panini’s promise to provide innovative improvements to the sports card hobby. As Panini put it, the hobby was long overdue for an upgrade, and Prizm could be the answer.

It was. The opti-chrome set introduced the “Prizm” card – the answer to Topps’ trademarked “refractor.” In the early years, the prizm cards came in simple color varieties: mainly silver, green, red, and aqua. Since then, Panini’s added a few new color options every year and built out an extensive Prizm rainbow, although most are available only in hobby boxes.

Still, the silver prizm cards are in all Prizm products and have since become the single-most iconic rookie card of any modern player. A PSA 10 Silver Prizm is as good as it gets for a long-term investment of a non-numbered card. 

While Prizm has been in print for a decade now years now, more offshoots from Panini also include “prizm” cards: Select, Optic, Mosaic, and many more. In this way, Prizm is the grandfather of all modern opti-chrome cards and the single-most-important sports card set for modern investing.

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The 2022 Prizm Football review of what’s new

Historically, Prizm has done a good job of not changing the recipe too much over its decade-long run. 

Whether you’re ripping an old box of Prizm or the newest release, you can expect some common threads: 12 packs of 12 cards, a couple autographs, and the big hit potential coming from the colored prizms.

Over the years, though, Prizm has significantly expanded the lineup of colored prizms. It started with base, red, green, and light blue, basically, and now there are over 30 colors to chase. 

Over the years, the guarantees have changed a bit, as well as the rookie silver Prizms. For example, all the rookies were silver in 2016 and 2017. Then, in 2018, Panini overcorrected and started inserting silvers at one per box.

This year, you’re guaranteed 4 silvers per box, one of which is going to be a rookie. This might be the best approach Panini has rolled out in a while, making them very rare and valuable but not impossible to pull.

The only new change Panini is advertising for 2022 is “an all-new tribute insert in Prizm Flashbacks Prizms Silver, Mojo, Gold and Black Finite.” You can still look for Color Blast, Manga and Stained Glass SPs in 2022 Prizm, too.

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2022 Prizm boxes guarantee 2 autographs, 10 #’d prizms, 3 base and 1 rookie silver prizm, 24 rookies, and 7 inserts/parallels

The 2022 Prizm Football formats

Prizm will be released in several formats. Here’s a breakdown of everything we can expect.

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2022 Prizm Football Hobby box

  • 12 cards per pack.
  • 12 packs per box.
  • 2 Autographs
  • 24 rookies
  • 10 #’d prizms
  • 4 silver prizms (1 rookie guaranteed)
  • 7 inserts

2022 Prizm Football Hanger box

  • 20 cards per box
  • 4 cracked ice inserts

Prizm Football 2022 Blaster Box

  • 4 cards per pack
  • 6 packs per box
  • 1 blaster exclusive rookie memorabilia card*

Mega Box

  • 4 cards per pack
  • 10 Packs Per Box
  • 1 autograph, on average

TMall Box

  • 6 cards per box
  • 1 exclusive base or rookie prizm red and yellow numbered to 49 or less*

No Huddle Box (H2)

  • Releasing at $375
  • 5 cards per pack
  • 18 Packs Per Box
  • 18 rookies
  • 1 No Huddle Rookie Auto Prizm
  • 10 Exclusive base or rookie prizm No Huddle parallels
  • 1 Rookie variation card

*Noted because this is not confirmed, just based on previous years.

2022 Prizm Football checklist

The Prizm lineup looks very similar to last year’s boxes, even at the hobby level. However, some new inserts and Prizm colors add flare.

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Here’s a look at this year’s hobby colors:

  • Snakeskin Prizms
  • Orange Prizms – #/249
  • Purple Ice Prizms – #/225
  • Blue Wave Prizms – #/199
  • Hyper Prizms – #/175
  • Red Wave Prizms – #/149
  • Purple Prizms – #/125
  • Blue Ice Prizms – #/99
  • Green Scope Prizms – #/75
  • Orange Wave Prizms – #/60
  • Purple Power Prizms – #/49
  • Navy Camo Prizms – #/25
  • Forest Camo Prizms – #/15
  • Gold Prizms – #/10
  • Gold Vinyl Prizms – #/5
  • Black Finite Prizms – 1/1

Here’s a look at this year’s “No Huddle” Prizm colors:

  • Base No Huddle Prizms
  • Blue No Huddle Prizms – #/79
  • Red No Huddle Prizms – #/50
  • Purple No Huddle Prizms – #/35
  • Pink No Huddle Prizms – #/15
  • Neon Green No Huddle Prizms – #/5

The snakeskins are one-per-case. As they are exceptionally rare, snakeskins demand big bucks.

Hobby box exclusive, there will also be rookie patch autographs numbered to /99, /49, and /10, plus a black finite /1. 

This year includes Prizm Flashback Hobby Parallels. From the best we can tell pre-release, these are inserts that are modeled after the 2012 prizm set and include, silver, mojo /25, gold /10, and black finite 1/1 parallels.

There are three significant inserts to seek. As described by Panini, they are:

  • Manga: Manga utilizes Anime-style illustration to create a truly unique card of the top vets and rookies in the NFL.
  • Color Blast: This super short-printed insert falls one in every 10 cases, on average.
  • Stained Glass: A stained-glass art-inspired rendition on NFL cards.

2022 Prizm Football review of value

If you’re hoping to invest in Prizm 2022, the first question to answer is if you should buy singles or wax.

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Wax value

Let’s look at the two most popular formats of Prizm.

Hobby box value

This year’s Prizm boxes are selling for $750 pre-order. Let’s look at the last few years of Prizm and recent sales (as of 3/2/23):

ReleaseValue
2021 Panini Prizm Football$1,475
2020 Panini Prizm Football$2,000
2019 Panini Prizm Football$575
2018 Panini Prizm Football$2,100
2017 Panini Prizm Football$7,000

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When the product stays largely the same, the difference, as always, is largely going to be the rookies. 2019 is the weakest rookie class on this list, while 2017 (with Mahomes) is by far the best. The difference is reflected in the price.

That said, age and print runs should both be considered. The older the product is, the more valuable it should become since it’s harder to find sealed. And recent releases (2020 and later, I’d say), have a higher print run when Panini really kicked it into overdrive. This lowers value. 

There’s no secret that the 2022 class isn’t exciting. The best player is Sauce Garner, and defensive cards never hold value long-term. With this in mind, consider 2019 a better recent comp than any of the other draft classes listed above. It does, however, seem like Panini is aware of how poor the rookie offering is and countered that by adding extra excitement like SSPs and tribute cards. 

Blasters

The blasters will presumably sell for around $35 and be so overprinted that they will actually sit on Walmart shelves. Last year’s blasters aren’t selling for much more than $40, but that will probably change over time.

The safest bet for investing in sealed prizm retail this year is picking up 10 or so blasters ($350) and sitting on them for a while. 

Blasters are not a good rip but they can be a decent long-term hold and sell. There is a notable absence of numbered cards or autographs inside, which damages the value quite a bit.

Prizm Football 2022 Singles value

Prizm rookie cards are the blue-chip investment of modern Panini rookies. So, if you’re going to invest in just one card of anybody, Prizm is the way to go.

The silver rookies are slightly overvalued, considering they’re the most common Prizm insert. That said, your best bet of making a guaranteed profit is finding a few silver rookies of players you believe in. Then, buy them raw (after asking for more pictures) before grading them.

But caution: don’t buy the first Prizm cards that appear on eBay for this year. The price will inevitably drop as the supply meets the demand.

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Final thoughts on 2022 Prizm Football review

While the Prizm 2022 release might be coming significantly later, it’s still the most exciting product from an underwhelming rookie class. 

With 2022 Prizm Football, you’ll want to get a piece of the action, whether that’s buying for a long-term hold if you believe in the 2022 class or if you want to get in on the action. If you really believe in Kenny Pickett and company, you can buy or hold, but perhaps the best exposure to 2022 Prizm is ripping a mega box with a young collector. 

What do you plan on doing with 2022 Prizm? Let us know on Twitter @card_lines, and be sure to sign up for our free newsletter, delivering hobby news into your inbox twice a week.

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Jesse Haynes

Jesse Haynes

Jesse Haynes is the co-founder of Solaro Shades, an Amazon #1 Bestselling novelist, and a lifelong sports card collector. His nonfiction work has been featured in Forbes, Inc., MarketWatch and more. At CardLines, Jesse’s specialties are basketball and football cards, not to mention making informative video and Instagram content.

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