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.

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.

2021 Panini Flawless Football Review Of The Release Formats

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

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

2021 Panini Flawless Football Review And Checklist: The Autos

 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.

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