2024 Donruss Elite Football: Best 2024 NFL Release Thus Far?

The Donruss Elite Football franchise is back for the 2024 season, maintaining its place as one of the longest-running brands in the football card world.

Known for blending classic designs with modern touches and full-bleed parallel colors, this year’s Elite Football brings collectors a 200-card base set, including 100 rookies, and plenty of the brand’s signature parallels.

But as one of the earlier releases in the season, is this product living up to its storied reputation, or does it fall victim to the same flaws we’ve seen in the other early-season releases? 

An introduction to 2024 Donruss Elite Football 

Scheduled for release on September 25, 2024, at a price point of $350 per hobby box, Donruss Elite offers collectors a 20-pack configuration with 5 cards per pack. Each box promises two autographs, one memorabilia card, three rookie cards, six parallels, and eleven inserts.

While three rookie cards don’t seem like much for a box of that price (it’s not!), the limited production keeps the supply down and helps prevent overprinting from tanking the value. 

A few Red Flags with Elite 2024 Football

Like every 2024 Panini football product, a few caveats come with 2024 Elite football. 

On top of that, as I’ve mentioned in other 2024 product previews, many of the top 2024 draft picks are working exclusively with Fanatics on autographs: Caleb Williams, AD Mitchell, Malik Nabers, Brendan Rice, Jayden Daniels, Brian Thomas Jr., Xavier Worthy, Rome Odunze and Drake Maye, to name a few.

These athletes agreed to no more autos with Panini, but they could still have some in this set. (Rome Odunze seems to). 

That said, this is the first set to release this year that doesn’t drive value almost entirely from autographs. Or, in other words, having rookie parallel potential means it has a bit higher floor.  Still, though, it’s a set that falls flat without top rookie signers. 

A breakdown of the cards in 2024 Donruss Elite Football

If you’re ripping a box of Elite 2024, here’s what to expect.

The Base Set and Parallels 

At the heart of Donruss Elite is its 200-card base set, which includes 100 veterans and 100 rookies. The base set design follows the tradition of full-bleed photography combined with bold lines and dynamic color schemes. Parallels like Aspirations and Status remain as staples of the product, offering collectors a chance to pull lower-numbered variations of the base cards. 

However, for those seeking rookie cards, the three guaranteed per box might feel like a bit of a letdown in a product where rookies are a major attraction. While these cards still carry weight, hitting the top names in the class might feel a little more challenging than collectors would like.

Autographs

Donruss Elite has always been known for its autograph content, and 2024 brings back the tradition… but not the star power. Without the top rookie signers (mentioned above), this year’s autograph lineup is weak compared with previous iterations.

The sets still feature the popular Pen Pals series, offering hard-signed cards in single, dual, triple, and quad formats. Pen Pals have long been a favorite among collectors because of their clean on-card signatures and connection to the year’s rookie class.

The Turn of the Century Autographs and Passing the Torch Signatures add more depth to the autograph and bring in some hall-of-farmers to add more excitement.

Inserts:

In addition to autographs, Donruss Elite packs a punch with its range of inserts. The popular Spellbound insert set returns, allowing collectors to spell out player names letter by letter. This set has long been a fun chase for fans of individual players.

Other standout inserts include the Throwback Threads series, featuring single and double memorabilia cards from some of the game’s greatest players. First Class, a case-chase insert, adds a layer of rarity to the mix, giving collectors something extra to aim for with each box.

Investing in Sealed Boxes of Donruss Elite Football

Disclaimer: at this point, with all the unknowns, it’s hard to figure out how to even think about investing in this product. But, considering the release price of $350 for 2024 Luminance, let’s at least look at the value of sealed Luminance boxes in recent years (as of 9/20):

• 2020: $335
• 2021: $250
• 2022: $300
• 2023: $251
• 2024: $350

The numbers speak for themselves: this is a clear stay away at the release price. I’ll go even further: the price for 2024 is so outlandishly high it feels like a joke, especially given the lack of top signers.

The only previous release selling for around what this product is asking for is 2020, and that’s the best rookie class we’ve seen in a long time. And this year’s washed-out, watered-down product doesn’t have half the rookie autograph potential that the previous year’s do (even though 2023 doesn’t include CJ Stroud autos, either.)

Don’t buy this box anywhere near the $350 mark. 

Investing in Donruss Elite Football singles

In the case of 2024 Elite, the only cards to consider are the rookie cards. If you can find a rookie parallel at a decent price (perhaps buy raw and get it graded?), that will be as good as you can get when it comes to a long-term hold.

Other than that, though, I’m out on Eliite… and probably most of the Panini football products to follow. 

In Conclusion: Should you rip, hold or pass on 2024 Donruss Elite Football

So, is 2024 Donruss Elite Football worth your investment? No, especially not at the price it’s asking at release. 

But since this isn’t an autograph-focused product, it’s at least a bit better than Gold Standard or Luminance, the other two similarly-priced releases thus far this year. 

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