1999 Fleer Ultra Football was a big hit with collectors. The set had a lot of momentum following the extremely productive 1998 Draft class (Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Fred Taylor, and Randy Moss) and continuing Fleer Ultra’s strong photography and clean designs.

The set has fallen short as the rookie class had a lot of setbacks as 3 of the 5 quarterbacks selected in the top 12 picks turned into busts (Tim Couch at #1, Akili Smith #3 and Cade McNown at #12). Also, rookies were tougher to find, as the odds for hobby pack were 1 rookie in every 4 packs.

However, the rookie class is full of a lot of fun names. There are already two Hall of Famers, in Edgerrin James and Champ Bailey. You can find names like Ricky Williams, Donovan McNabb, Torry Holt, Daunte Culpepper and Javon Kearse. These players really helped shape the early 2000’s even if their careers have not been recognized for induction in Canton.

Here’s what we got in our two packs:

Pack 1:

Hugh Douglas Gold Medallion, Dan Marino, Orlando Pace, Kordell Stewart, Kennan McCardell, Mike Alstott, Yancy Thigpen, Stephen Alexander, Charlie Batch, Derrick Mayes.

Pack 2:

Corey Dillon Gold Medallion, Edgerrin James Rookie, Ray Lewis, Steve Young, Steve Young Checklist, Cris Carter, Brett Farve, Bryce Paup, Greg Ellis, Carl Pickens.

Review:

The first thing we want to bring to light is that we had some bricking of the cards in our packs. The back half of the cards were pretty stuck together and we suffered some paper loss on the cards. The higher gloss cards of the 1990-early 2000’s are prone to this so you need to be really careful when opening them.

As a fan of the University of Miami, pulling a Edgerrin James rookie was really fun. I’m so happy he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of this year’s class (who will now be inducted in 2021). We also had 6 of our 10 cards in pack two feature Hall of Fame players which is always a good thing when you’re not pulling rookie cards.

You can pick up hobby packs in the $5 range on eBay and retail packs in the $2- 3 range. Hobby boxes can be found in the $65-75 range. There are some fun rookies to chase, so it can be a really fun break. But as we mentioned you may run into some bricking of the cards, so be careful when purchasing them. With the base rookies not holding a ton of value, you may be better purchasing a nice copy on eBay or Comc so you know the condition you are getting.

We love opening older cards and getting the flood of memories rushing back to us. We hope you enjoy it too! Leave us a comment on the blog or on our Facebook post and let us know if you like these too!