It’s Good! NFL Kickers Get their Due in 2011 Crown Royale Football’s Net Fusion Insert

There’s no need to sugarcoat it. NFL kickers get no love from football card collectors. Oh, sure, occasionally a guy like Adam Vinatieri comes along with a Super Bowl-winning boot or two and collectors will pay some attention to him — but it’s always fleeting.

Placekickers are responsible for most of the points and for some of the most important plays of the season every season, but their trading cards have forever taken a back seat on the bus driven by their skill-position counterparts (that is, if they even get a seat on the bus at all). But a new trading card set from Panini America is about to change that in a big way.

The 20-card Net Fusion insert inside 2011 Crown Royale Football honors the game’s most surefire feet on a unique design that includes a big chunk of black mesh fabric that deftly simulates an NFL field goal net behind a goalpost. It’s the first time in football card history that an insert set has been devoted exclusively to kickers. And the fact that the cards are randomly inserted at a rate of just one per case should ensure unheard-of secondary-market values for kicker cards.

What’s more, the set includes the first-ever trading cards of Matt Prater (Denver Broncos), David Buehler (Dallas Cowboys) and Graham Gano (Washington Redskins).

“On many occasions, the most important player on the field during an NFL game is the kicker,” says Carlos Torrez, Panini America’s NFL Brand Manager. “But they’ve never gotten that kind of respect in the sports collectibles world — until now. Net Fusion is a long-overdue tribute. We’re thrilled at how the cards came out and we’re sure that the kickers on them and the collectors that find them will be, too.”