When I first started to get into football cards, I could never understand why anyone would buy regular Topps when Chrome was SOOOOO much better. Well, Topps took this type of feeling to heart when they started to build on their flagship set, and this year is one of the most ridiculous Topps sets ever to be produced. Like with 2010 Allen and Ginter baseball, Topps incorporated well thought out high end concepts into their most popular product, and I must say, from what I have seen, its a touchdown and a two point conversion.

The first thing about this set that I need to comment on is the Rookie Premiere autos. For the last two years, this site has been at the forefront of battling the fakes that always show up with each of these sets, and this year, I can go on vacation. Topps, in partial response to the criticsm of people like me, has serially numbered ON THE FRONT OF THE CARD, each and every Rookie Premiere auto. The normal blue autos are numbered to 90, and the reds are numbered to 10. This is such an epic win for my interest in these cards, and I will not hesitate to congratulate Topps on a job well done. The hobby thanks you for taking a stand the RIGHT way.
Second, I commented a few days ago that a lot of the top rookies had TERRIBLE pictures for their Topps cards. After searching on eBay today, I saw that some of the rookies included in that group have some VERY cool variation cards. Clausen has a throwing one, Spiller has a catching one, and Bradford and Tebow also have theirs. Im hoping these cards have Chrome variations because they are a great addition to this set. Its really too bad that the close ups werent the variations, because the rarer ones are definitely 10000000% better.

Moving on to some of the other autographs in this product, I love the ones centered around the 75th NFL Draft. Rather than bordering the stickers like Topps loves to do, they have really done a great job hiding them in the design. For a low end set like this product, the autos are tremendous and should get a lot of money on the secondary market. I even have a slight draw to the Gridiron Lineage dual autos, even though the cards are done in typical Topps fashion. The difference between these cards and ones like in Topps Unique last year is that the borders actually work, and none of the players are covered up. The concept of the set features some good combos of players too, so the low numbered autos should get some nice coin if pulled.

I think another amazing addition to this set is the sketch cards that are randomly inserted, as these types of cards have become incredibly popular for good reason. This Montana sketch that showed up on ebay is so cool, that I may chase others if they look as good as this one does. How cool would it be to get a card like this autographed by the player at a show? I think it would make one of the coolest pieces ever.

Whether or not a box break lives up to everything that it can, the singles listed so far definitely live up to the billing and then some. Even venturing outside of the singles, into the addition of the Gridiron Giveaway, even more is put into this product. Like the Million Card giveaway in baseball, Football has a sister project, and the codes are inserted similarly to Topps baseball. Because football has down years, but nothing like 1987-1992 in baseball, the cards are probably going to be a little bit better in terms of what you can get. There wont be big pulls like the incredibly valuable vintage commons available in baseball, but there definitely will be some very nice cards that collectors can look forward to.

Lastly, Ill be heading to my local shop later today to break some of this product, hopefully with great results. I have had a pretty shitty week so far, and I am counting on a worthwhile and fun break to kick the blues away. Maybe ill get lucky, despite the fact that my wax prowess lately has shrunk to that of kitten. My want list is located here on Blowout, if you have any of the cards I need, count me among the buyers. Email me at the contact link up above, or PM me over there.