Playbook Plus: Panini America Offers a Peek at Flywire Booklets, Product Checklist

Truth be told, we hadn’t intended to publish another update on 2013 Playbook Football today. But sometimes, news and new images find you. That’s certainly what happened this afternoon, when Panini America NFL Product Development Director Ben Ecklar walked over with his iPhone in hand to ask if I’d seen the pictures he took last week during the Playbook packout process.

I told him I hadn’t as I hurriedly grabbed his phone and began scrolling through his camera roll to uncover a series of stunners: 1/1 Flywire Booklets, NFL Shield Booklets, a fantastically disgusting Robert Griffin III Down & Dirty Booklet, a few Playbook Coaches Booklets, the first certified autograph of Seattle Seahawks CB Richard Sherman and a hand-drawn Signature Plays Booklet 1/1 from Colin Kaepernick.

Judging by the shaky nature of some of the images, It was obvious that Ecklar was as moved by these cards as I was. But what some of the pics below might lack in crystal-clear quality they make up for with maximum impact. You’ll see what I mean shortly.

Soon after I copied Ecklar’s photos (for the sake of intrigue, let’s call them the “Almost-Lost Playbook Archives”) to my desktop, NFL Brand Manager Joseph Mackey was emailing me the complete product checklist. Like I said, sometimes news and new images find you.

But before we get to Ecklar’s Almost-Lost Playbook Archives and the checklist, now seems like the perfect time to showcase a little making-of video we put together that shows how one extremely game-worn Alfred Morris jersey became several Down & Dirty Booklets.

Now, to the images and the checklist:

The 2013 Playbook Football checklist: Panini America 2013 Playbook Football Checklist