Random Wax: 2020 Contenders Football

 2020 Contenders Football: Been a long time since I've shown off this set.  I like the design overall but there so little room for the photo it is easy to complain.  Bought this pack in January, 2021 and finally getting to show it off.  Hoping to see Adams have another good season.  He's proven he can play no matter where he calls home.

Again you can see how the photos are squeezed here.  I'm a Contenders guy.  I know I'm in the minority but it works for me overall.  I do like that Edelman photo.

Cam Newton, MVP Contender?  A bit of a stretch.  And I think we knew that before the 2020 Season.  But if anyone could have made it work we had to think Bill could do it in New England.  Dillon has had a solid career in Green Bay even if he hasn't been a star.

Love seeing retired legends and this is a nice-looking card and a great player.  Deejay Dallas sounds like he would be spinning records at Cowboys' hype parties.  Just saying.

Pretty good pack of cards.  Some nice star power and a brand I like.  Jackson and the Ravens are wild cards to me.  I'm just not sure what we'll get from them this year.

BREAKDOWN:
22 – Total Cards
1 – Retired Great
1 – Round Numbers
1 – MVP Contenders
1 – Legendary Contenders
1 – Rookie of the Year Contenders

Random Wax: 2020 Contenders Football

2020 Contenders Football: Tonight we'll find out if this guy and the Rams are headed back to the Super Bowl.  I'm a big Mahomes fan, I like former Georgia alum Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow as one of the next great quarterbacks in the league.  Any of those guys making it to the big game would be a plus for me.

I like the Contenders brand, which is not something I can say for most collectors, but the 2020 design while overall is good to me though it leaves very little room for the photo itself.  Didn't turn me off from picking these up.

A couple of nice MVP inserts.  I'm hoping both these guys can bounce back with better years next season.

Pretty good pull in this pack.  With the Bears struggles it's easy to forget about Khalil Mack but he was still able to total six sacks in seven games before injuries shut him down for the 2021 season.

These guys will all be front in center in any success their team will have in the championship games tonight.

Always fun cards.  Can't wait to see the games today.  Good luck to your teams and let's hope for good games on par with last week's.  Or even just somewhat close to those.

BREAKDOWN:

22 – Total Cards

2 – MVP Contenders

1 – Round Numbers

1 – Rookie of the Year Contenders

Random Wax: 2020 Contenders Football

2020 Contenders Football: You know I enjoy this brand and I understand I may be on an island with that.  I'll kick off this pack, which I picked up in January, with Patrick Mahomes which makes any card look good. He may be struggling some this year but anyone would be more than happy with him under center for their NFL team or fantasy team for that matter.

I do admit this year's design has a glaring issue in that they only leave about one third of the card for the photo.  Fail.  Outside of that I do like the design and that the area behind the player isn't plain white but actually shows the background.

I'll take a Christian McCaffrey card any day though this design is not a winner for me.  I do like the MVP Contenders which is made that much better with having Matty Ice on it. 

Jake Fromm probably won't see the field in any meaningful minutes but he's still shows up on this Rookie of the Year insert.  Always good seeing retired greats in these sets.  Can't see it here but that Mean Joe Green is an emerald parallel.

Even with the design issues this was a fun pack.  Grabbing Mahomes, McCaffrey and Josh Allen make it a win.  

BREAKDOWN:
 22 – Total Cards
1 – Retired Great
1 – Winning Ticket
1 – MVP Contenders
1 – Rookie of the Year Contenders
1 – Legendary Contenders Emerald Parallel

 

2020 Contenders Football with an Auto

 2020 Contenders Football: More new cards as I found these yesterday and picked up a few packs.  This pack yielded an autograph though not a name I knew.  We'll kick if off with Derrick Henry who is a beast.  Hard not to like watching this guy plow through defenses even if we didn't get to see that last week against the Ravens.

I'm a big Contenders guy but I have to say this year's design, while cool, takes up way too much of the card.  Anytime you only give 1/3 of the card to the photo you've failed.  I don't like saying that as I really do like the overall design.  As a reminder the ticket numbers mean: 

Sec: Weight / Row: Height / Seat: Uni Number

My inserts sans the auto. Round Numbers is a staple of Contenders that let's us see players drafted in the later rounds.  I'm not a big fan of the Winning Ticket design and color but maybe over time it'll win me over.  I do like the colors of the Rookie of the Year Contenders.  Reminds me of some cards I don't remember.

Joe Reed was drafted in the 5th round but did see some time on the field.  He's a receiver who had no receptions but did rush five times for 29 yards and a touchdown.  He also saw some time returning kicks.

The backs are fine but won't wow ya any.  The photo is the same as the one on the front.  The "Game" number on the front looks to be the age of the player and seems out of place.

The base set is 100 cards with rookies showing up in the inserts.  Out of the four packs I had some duplicates but it wasn't too bad.  Not sure I'll search out more of these but again I do like the design so who knows.  Just not on board with the amount of space given to the photo.  I'll end this one with personal collection guy Larry Fitzgerald.

BREAKDOWN:
22 – Total Cards
1 – Winning ticket
1 – Round Numbers
1 – Rookie of the Year Contenders
1 - Rookie Ticket RPS Wild Card Parallel Autograph