The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2012 Contenders Football (86 Images)

The home of the autographed Rookie Card is on the verge of adding a spectacular new wing. Indeed, when Panini America’s 2012 Contenders Football releases to the hobby just two short days from now, the brand’s landmark 20th edition will include many of the familiar niceties that have made it — for the last two decades straight — one of the most popular trading card products of the modern era.

But it will also introduce a few new twists sure to appease longtime collectors and newcomers alike. That much is abundantly while perusing the attractive contents of the recently completed Quality Control process for the product. See what we mean in the gallery that follows.

It’s hard to believe 15 years have passed since Contenders introduced the concept of the autographed Rookie Card to the NFL landscape way back in 1998, harder still to believe that the Contenders brand first launched five years prior to that. And while the base Rookie Ticket design for 2012 has undergone some slight modifications since we first previewed the product in October, the brand’s proven recipe for success remains firmly intact.

The top rookies from 2012 have on-card autographs in 2012 Contenders Football, and there are more than 140 rookie signers in all. But the biggest news of all this year might just be this: Each hobby box will deliver six autographs.

Oh, there are other improvements, too, such as the introduction of “Cracked Ice” parallels and some of the most deft die-cuts the brand has ever seen. And it wouldn’t be a new-generation Contenders release without RC variations, and you’ll peek some of those beauties in the gallery below.

Take your own sweet time this evening with this extended first look at live cards from the product, and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional coverage later this week.