Set Completion: 2020 Donruss Optic Football...Or is it?

 

Football cards make up the second largest percentage of my collection.  I've been collecting these for as long as I've collected baseball cards,  I just haven't pursued them as much.  As a result, I've missed out on collecting some big name rookies like a Tom Brady or Drew Brees.  More recently, however, I've been more cognizant of newer sets and hot rookies thanks to reading up on the blogs and having a brother who really likes the shiny new stuff.

So just as I pursued the 2020 Prizm Football set I was also chasing the 2020 Donruss Optic Football set.  Prices of these cards seem to have settled a bit, and I needed to show some progress on my 2023 goals.  Therefore I decided it was time to put this one to bed.

I like the design of the set though it tends to remind me of the 2021 Topps baseball design (at least the names are readable in this set). The card stock is also a bit thicker than the regular Donruss issue.  The first 100 cards of this set are all current players.

The backside of the card is nothing special.  Of course what else is there to expect from Panini?

The next 50 cards in the set all get the RC designation.  Apparently these players were not worthy of placing them in the 'Rated Rookie' category.

The last 50 cards are all Rated Rookies and this draft class was loaded with future stars.  Well, hopefully Jordan Love doesn't turn out to be a big get for that team.  😀

This is where I question whether I've truely completed the set.  Panini decided to torture set completists like me with an additional 50 cards with B/W variations.  These cards are numbered from 301-350.  The base set including Rated Rookie is numbered from 1-200. So what happened to cards 201-300?  I could find nothing that says those exist.  For now I'll consider these as just another insert set to chase, but there doesn't seem to be much difference in the pricing of these vs the standard issue.

There was one insert set I had to complete.  This Rookie Elite Series set was easy enough to complete, and I really like the marbled border design.  Prices for cards of Burrow or Herbert can still set you back, but I was able to buy mine for cheaper than their Rated Rookie cards.

Why couldn't Panini use this backside for all cards in the set?

So there's another shiny set I can check off the list.  It took longer to complete this one than my Prizm set despite buying a couple of boxes to start off the process.  I also found the Elite series cards to be more difficult to track down in the wild.  I now have a ton of extras from the base set for trade bait if anyone is interested.  I put the variations checklist up on my want list just in case I get crazy and go for those inserts.  

It feels good to finally complete a set I've had up on the blog for over a year.  On to the next project!