Hobby
Insider Appreciation |
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First
and foremost, special thanks to Clay Luraschi from TOPPS for providing
us at Hobby Insider the chance to review one of there
newest products. Please support the vendors that support
HobbyInsider.
If you want to see this break performed live on video, click here for our video break on our forum!
Be sure to check our Contest
Forum as many of these great cards
will be available to our Member of the Month Winner
as well as other various contests provided by HobbyInsider.Net!
For more information and pictures of the set and more
Topps products; be sure to visit the Topps website at
http://www.topps.com.
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Review:
2007 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects Football (Review
by Chris Barr aka vegaspuck)
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2007 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects Football
Each sealed box contains 24 packs of 5 cards from a 255 card set.
Each PACK contains one Draft Pick Rookie Card, as well as one chrome parallel
card.
Each BOX contains at least TWO memorabilia cards, Either two jersey cards, one jersey & one autograph card, or one autograph relic card and one jersey card.
Chrome Parallel sets:
Gold Refractor (#`d to 25)
Gold (#'d to 99)
Silver Refractor (#'d to 125)
Silver (#'d to 299)
Bronze Refractor (#'d to 250)
Bronze
Black Refractor
Black
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Base Set Scan |
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The base set features a traditional bronze/copper border. Nice crisp photography on the front with some bold foil printing along the bottom. On the back side of the card, you'll find the player's previous year's stats along with a brief commentary about the player's skills and accolades.
The checklist features all the mainstream stars like Brady, Manning, Tomlinson and more. The brown borders seem like they might be candidates for chipping and edge problems, but we had no quality control issues in this break whatsoever.
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Rookie Subset Scan |
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Each pack in Draft Picks and Prospects includes at least one rookie card. Depending on your taste you may go for the photos of the rookies in their college gear or you may be turned off by them. Just remember, by the beginning of the season, you may not see these players in college jerseys on cardboard for a long time. Definitely something to think about.
One thing I would've liked to have seen was some notation of the team the player was drafted or signed by. On the front a bold "2007 Draft Pick" is where the normal team designation appears on the veteran cards. There's no information about the draft position or team that selected them either. One of the drawbacks of being one of the first sets to provide this year's rookie class.
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Parallel Insert Scans |
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Inside each pack, you'll also receive one chrome parallel cards. The chrome cards come in a wide variety of colors and variations. The rarer ones are serial numbered, as are their refractor counterparts. I've always been a big fan of the Topps Chrome technology, and this set does not disappoint.
All the rookies and veterans are included in the checklist, so there's plenty to be excited about with one parallel per pack.
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Insert Card Scans |
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Topps surprised a lot of collectors by including rookie cards from last year's top rookies in 2007 Topps Draft Picks and Prospects.
And we were even more surprised with the quality of players we got. We ended up witn Vince Young, Jay Cutler, and Reggie Bush.
Not only are the regular rookies from last year available, but their chrome parallels as well. We wer fortunate enough to come away with the Jay Cutler rookie refractor from last year. Overall a really nice bonus to an already loaded product.
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Relic Card Scan |
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The jerseys fall 2 per box in Draft Picks and Prospects. Unless you're lucky enough to pull an autograph which will replace one of the jerseys. There are a few different relic subsets offered in this set. There's the NFL Upperclassmen which features jersey pieces from some of the top veterans in the league, and also included are the Senior Standout Relics which features jerseys worn by the draft picks in the 2007 Senior Bowl.
Look for
variations of the relic cards as well. There are color variations as well as a dual combo jersey and autographed version. 20 of the 50 draft picks are included in the autographed relic set.
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Autograph Card Scan |
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We were lucky enough to hit a LaRon Landry autograph card in our box. The autographs fall every 2 boxes based on the odds provided by Topps. Along with the Class Marks autographs that include some of the first autos of this year's draft class, there's also an All-Star Alumni autograph set which features rookies, veterans and hall of famers in the checklist. There are dual autograph versions to be found as well.
Topps seems to be going with the clear sticker autos this year. That's a huge bonus in my mind. If they absolutely have to use a sticker autograph on the card, then it should be something that doesn't take away from the card design. These sticker autos fit well with the card and actually look pretty good.
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The
Final Verdict! |
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I
rate this box a 4.5 of 5 HI Fives. 2007 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects is a wonderful entry level product into the new class of rookies this year. The upside is the early release to get the cards to the collectors. The downside is featuring them in their college jerseys and the lack of information about the team that drafted them. However, the break is so much fun, you hardly think about it. Each pack has at least two guaranteed hits in it with a rookie and parallel. Add to that the two memorabilia cards and surprise rookie inserts from last year and it's tough to go wrong with these packs.
If you're an avid football collector and aren't the type who wants to wait months to get your hands on the cards of your team's future stars, this is the product for you. The price point won't put a hurt on your wallet and it's a nice product for set builders that want to make sure they get every rookie from the new class of 2007. It's everything you expect from an early season release and then some.
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