2025 Donruss Optic Football: A Guide to Chase Cards, Inserts and Rookies
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A majority of NFL hobby releases have come and gone, but there a few products that are still awaiting their official release date. One such example was released today, that being 2025 Donruss Optic Football. The product has been around for a number of years now, serving as the chrome-finish to the base Donruss product that released in the fall of last year. With the NFL licensing changing hands in just a few months, this could also be the final licensed run of the fan-favorite release.
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The 2025 edition has a lot to offer, and here is what collectors need to know.
2025 Donruss Optic Hobby Box breakdown
Hobby boxes this year will take on a familiar format, with 80 cards coming per box, along with one autograph on average. 12 Parallels are advertised in the box as well, with nine of them being numbered. Collectors can also look for four inserts per box. Boxes went on sale Monday, January 26th at the price of $875 on the Panini website. Collectors should be able to find them on the secondary market, but the price will likely be higher.
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Rare parallels and inserts to be key chase elements in the product
Optic is well known for having a variety of parallels to chase after, and this year is no different. In total, there are 35 parallels for hobbyists to collect. They range in rarity, with some not even being numbered. For example, the Fire, Freedom, and Holo parallels will not be numbered this year.
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However, iconic color schemes such as Blue (/249), Orange Scope (/79), Black Pandora (/25), Ice (/15), Gold (/10), Green (/5), and Gold Vinyl (/1) will all be returning. Any collector who is able to put together an entire parallel set of a player will have quite the collection to display.
Inserts are kept standard once again this year, with a few subsets returning for another round. Rookie Kings and Sunday Kings are back, along with the My House insert. The Rookie Kings insert has the insert title spray painted on the card, with the player standing behind it. They do have some good eye appeal, which is always good for a common insert.
Short-printed inserts have grown in popularity over the past few years, in large part to the Downtown offering that Panini brings to the table. They will feature once again in Optic, giving them a chrome finish. A preview image of the Travis Hunter Gold Vinyl parallel was released, featuring him alongside cartoon Jaguars on the card.
Collectors can look for autographs of some of the top rookies from this past season
Donruss Optic is well known for containing autographs of the year's rookies, and they will be in the 2025 edition. While collectors can find just autographed cards, they can also discover rookie patch autographs of the top rookies. Shedeur Sanders is one of the top names on this checklist, and collectors can hope to find multi-colored patches on these cards.
2025 Donruss Optic is one of the more anticipated hobby releases of the year. While it falls towards the end of the NFL season, it is established by this point who the top rookies are. The era of parallels and rare inserts also continues onward, and Optic directly plays into this peaking interest among collectors. 2025 Donruss Optic is currently up for grabs nationwide.
Dylan is a collector based in Central Pennsylvania, and sports fan rooting for the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Pirates, and LA Lakers. He is currently attempting to collect a complete run of Topps flagship sets across football, baseball, and basketball. He is passionate about the history of the hobby including its continual growth and evolution.