When it comes to serving up lots of rookie cards at an affordable price, Bowman Football is always a good bet. The 2007 set looks to keep that tradition going, with 165 first-year players on the checklist and two Bowman Chrome rookies in every pack.
Hobby boxes of 2007 Bowman Chrome Football come with 24 packs of 10 cards each, and contain one autographed card and one memorabilia card on average. HTA Jumbo boxes have an extra Signs of the Future autographed card inserted as a box topper.
Base Cards
Rookies may be the draw, but the Bowman base set kicks off with 110 NFL veterans. This year's cards have thin black borders on both sides and thicker gray stripes on the top and bottom. The player's name and the Bowman logo are the only other elements. It's a simple but effective layout very much in keeping with past designs.
The rookie cards are identical except for the addition of a small "RC" logo. All 275 base cards have Blue (numbered to 500), Orange (#'d to 250) and Red (1-of-1) parallels. Each pack also has an extra thick Gold parallel that also helps deter pack searching.
Twenty rookies - including Adrian Peterson, JaMarcus Russell, Brady Quinn and Calvin Johnson - have autographed parallels of their Bowman cards limited to 199 copies.
I opened a random hobby box and found 75 veterans and 96 rookie cards, most notably Russell, Johnson and Marshawn Lynch. The box also yielded 23 Gold parallels (14 rookies and nine veterans) plus one Blue rookie and one Orange rookie.
Chrome Rookie Cards
Continuing a trend from Bowman products in other sports, packs of Bowman Football hold two Bowman Chrome rookie cards. These 55 cards are identical to their Bowman counterparts but are printed on Topps' Chrome stock, and are numbered so that they will actually make up the first part of the upcoming Bowman Chrome set.
The most popular 2007 rookies are reserved for that set, but there are some high defensive draft picks to be found among the first 55, including Amobi Okoye, Anthony Spencer and Darrelle Revis. My review box contained 47 Bowman Chrome rookies, plus a Refractor parallel numbered to 500.
Memorabilia and Autographed Cards
Topps brings two long-running subsets back for 2007 in the form of Fabric of the Future jersey cards and Signs of the Future autographed cards. The memorabilia cards are built around swatches of jerseys worn at the Rookie Premiere photo shoot, and come in single and dual versions.
The checklist for Signs of the Future runs 32 players deep, though it is missing some bigger names like Peterson and Russell. Five dual-signed cards showcase combos like Brady Quinn/Ted Ginn and Trent Edwards/Marshawn Lynch.
Two other autographed insert sets branch out a little bit from the 2007 rookie class. Five first-year head coaches signed for 2007 Bowman Rookie Coach Autos, while the 2007 Signature Series Autos continue on from other Topps football sets and offer a mix of rookie, veteran and retired star autographs.
One unique memorabilia subset can also be found in some boxes. Bowman Draft Day Selections cards take the actual hats and jerseys worn on stage at the NFL Draft by four players - Russell, Quinn, Peterson and Gaines Adams - and give them to collectors one piece at a time.
The About.com sample box contained the two expected hits: a Brady Quinn Fabric of the Future and a Steve Breaston Signs of the Future.The Last Word
Bowman is a name football collectors can trust. Every year, hobbyists know they are getting plenty of rookies for a relatively low price. It's a dependable brand that delivers what it promises, and there's definitely something to be said for that.
The rookie cards in 2007 Bowman Football aren't likely to achieve eye-popping values, but they don't require you to break the bank to get them either. As always, it's a solid option priced toward the lower end of the current football card market.