It's never a bad thing when the name of a set of football cards explains what it's all about, and that's definitely the case with Leaf Rookies & Stars. The 2007 edition takes a deep rookie checklist and combines it with four memorabilia or autographed cards per box to help it live up to its moniker.
Hobby boxes of 2007 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football come with 24 five-card packs. Each pack has a suggested retail price of $4.00.
Base Cards and Parallels
Though rookies get top billing, the stars actually come first in the base set - 100 of them in all. Donruss' designers did a nice job finding a happy medium behind the bare-bones layouts this set had a few years ago and the crowded look of last season. All of the player info is contained in a white stripe on the left side of the card, while the player photo - utilizing a cool double exposure effect that gives it a sense of motion - is on the right.
Fifteen NFL players get a second base card in the Elements subset. These cards are supposed to spotlight athletes who perform no matter what the weather, and they show off some really nice pictures that drive that point home.
The first 85 rookie cards are numbered to 999 and are easy to identify thanks to the big "ROOOKIE" designation behind the player photo. The final 66 rookies are short prints that are different enough to get a section of their own.
It wouldn't be a Donruss product without parallels, but Leaf Rookies & Stars keeps them to a tasteful number. Longevity has been this brand's parallel of choice for years (as well as a brand of its own, but that's another story) and gives the base card design a foil makeover. There are four different levels with varied numbering, as well as game-used versions.
The collation in my sample box could have been a little better, with 91 of the 100 commons appearing along with 20 duplicates. I also pulled three base rookies, a Peyton Manning Longevity parallel and a Longevity rookie numbered to 199.
SP Rookies
Donruss came up with a new twist for 66 of the top rookies from the 2007 draft class, putting them on autographed cards numbered to 299 or less. The cards put the player's signature on a large patch of material that has an embroidered logo from his NFL team, which aren't from actual jerseys but look very cool nonetheless.
The SP rookies also have several levels of parallels, some of which aren't autographed but substitute a very large piece of game-worn or event-used pro or college jersey. Others keep the autograph and embroidered patch but picture the player in his college uniform and utilize his alma mater's logo.
My review box didn't yield any of the regular SP Rookie Signatures, but did contain two of the creative parallels: an SP Rookies Jumbos Lorenzo Booker numbered to 25 and an SP Rookies College Signatures Dwayne Jarrett with the USC logo, numbered to just 15.
Memorabilia Cards
Rookies & Stars boasts several memorabilia-only inserts. The most notable is Prime Cuts, which uses some attractive game-worn swatches and has a lean seven-man checklist with top names like LaDainian Tomlinson and Brett Favre.
Other game-worn cards have a particular focus toward stars (Statistical Standouts Materials) or rookies (Dress for Success Materials and Freshman Orientation Materials). There are also game-used parallels to some regular insert sets, but these aren't as numerous as in some other Donruss products.
Along with the rookie swatch card, the About.com sample box contained two more memorabilia cards: a Statistical Standouts Materials Carson Palmer numbered to 250 and a Freshman Orientation Materials Jerseys Greg Olsen numbered to 175.
Insert Cards
