2025 Panini Prizm Black Football: Retired, College, and High School Players Only
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Many collectors have known that the NFL licensing is going to shift in April from Panini to Topps. For some, this will be a changing of the guard, while some will roll with the changes that will take place. Panini is still (at the time of writing) advertising a couple upcoming NFL releases with no confirmed dates. Just yesterday, 2025 Panini Prizm Black Football 1st Off the Line was released, and the checklist came off as a bit of a surprise to some. There are no active players on the checklist, marking the first sign of a shift in the hobby.
Here is what collectors need to know.
2025 Panini Black Football Checklist Contains No Active NFL Players
This is the first time that the NFL hobby has gotten a product release for Panini Prizm Black, but the branding has appeared in other releases before. The checklist does not contain any current NFL players, but is made up of a long list of retired stars, and potential future stars of the league. Names such as Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson, Dan Marino, Brett Favre, Arch Manning, Dylan Raiola, and more all have cards in the set. Depending on the player, they will appear in the base set, or will have inserts and autographs.
The insert sets for the product do look to be heavy on eye appeal, as Kaledoscopic and Color Blast continue their dominance among collectors. Color Blast will be a short printed insert, while Kaleidoscopic will likely be a bit more common. Manga-themed cards can also be found, but will be rare. The exact details and odds are not known yet at the time of writing. Panini has also not advertised an official release date for the product, but typically release of a product after it's 1st Off the Line counterpart comes one week later. This would set a possible release date of March 17th.
What Does This Mean For Collectors?
Collectors may be impacted by this release in a variety of ways. If collectors are looking for autographs and parallels of last year's rookie class, this will not be a product they will want. Even though this is the debut of Panini Prizm Black as a standalone, collectors will not find rookies in it. Additionally, the product could appeal to those who collect retired stars, or potential prospects that are still in college. Therefore, while some may not be happy about the lack of current player inclusion in the product, it does open up the possibility to find autographs of some of the greats of the game.
2025 Panini Prizm Black Football looks to be releasing soon, but with a bit of a twist. The product will not contain any current NFL players, but will have retired stars and prospects. This marks the first time in recent memory that a licensed NFL product will not have any active NFL players in it, signaling a potential shift in the hobby.
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.