2006 Bowman Jumbo Football box

And now on to our first main event: a jumbo box of 2006 Bowman Football:

• Purchased from/price:  Dave & Adam's Card World / $37.95
• Packs/cards:  10 jumbo packs / 35 cards
• Set size:  275 base (including 165 rookies), 55 chrome
• Key features:   2 autographs, 1 relic per box (1 box topper auto)
• Key cards:  RCs of Jay Cutler, Reggie Bush, Vince Young, Maurice Drew, Marques Colston, Devin Hester, Greg Jennings, Santonio Holmes, Mario Williams, Joseph Addai
• Michigan Wolverines:  Braylon Edwards, Gabe Watson RC (& Chrome version), Jason Avant RC, Tim Massaquoi RC (& Chrome version), Tom Brady
•  Set completion:
• Base:  249/275  (91%)
• Chrome:  39/55 (71%)
•  Extras:
• Base:  52
• Chrome:  0

 

Nance and Greenway autos, Keiaho Chrome Refractor, Holmes jersey, Barber White parallel, Manning/Burress/Jones Blue parallels

• Inserts:
• Gold parallel:  9, including Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes RC, Randy Moss (1:1, ~12 expected)
• Blue parallel:  Kevin Smith, Plax and Daieal Manning RC (#'d/500, 1:4, 2-3 expected)
• White parallel:  Marion Barber (#'d/125, 1:14, 0-1 expected)
• Chrome refractor:  Freddy Keiaho RC (#'d/ 500, 1:20, 0-1 expected)
• Autographs (2/box):
• Signs of the Future autograph Martin Nance (box topper)
• Signs of the Future Chad Greenway
• Relics (1/box):
• Fabric of the Future Santonio Holmes jersey
• Best pack:  #9 included Massaquoi, Avant and Watson RCs as well as an Addai RC.  Despite Rod Marinelli's presence, it also included Favre, Rivers, and Warner, plus the Barber White Parallel and Colston Chrome RC.  Possibly best of all, no foil-less veteran cards (see below).
• Worst pack:  #3 Included 3 Buckeye RCs, the Plaxico (MSU) Blue Parallel, and several cards missing foil (one of several packs with that flaw).  THIS pack is where Marinelli belonged...



Peyton Manning, Chad Johnson, Drew Brees

• Quality control:  7/10  everything came out of the packs in good shape except 20 veteran cards which were missing most or all of their foil stamping on the front of the cards.  These included the three stars above.
• Collation:  7/10  considering I received more than 300 base cards for a set of 275, I was disappointed that I pulled this many doubles and needed 26 to complete the base set.  Chalk it up to the way some jumbo and rack packs are packed in a less-than-random fashion where it's possible to pull very similar or identical packs.  Fortunately, I pulled no Chrome doubles, and the inserts fell as expected.
• Value:  8/10  at full price (I'd guess $70-$80) a couple years ago, this box wouldn't have been worth it, but for about $40 now, I'm close to the base set and first part of the Chrome set, picked up a few good Wolverines, two autographs and a jersey, plus some good RCs.  Plus sometimes there's just something more fun about opening jumbo packs, even if it means less to open at once.
• Set design and player selection:  7/10  The design is fairly simple and easy on the eyes. Cards feature your standard Topps photography:  not overly flashy, but solid.  Obviously Bowman is a set that focuses on rookies, and this set doesn't disappoint, although with this many players you're bound to have some disappointments and plenty of "who's that?"  Fewer veterans meant I didn't get some of my favorite Michigan alumni or other players.  But I also liked that this wasn't an enormous set that required multiple boxes to complete.
• Inserts and extras:  6/10  This is an area where I ding Bowman every time:  enough with the stupid one-per-pack parallel cards.  They're boring and a waste of an otherwise useful card.  The other numbered parallels are reasonable, if unexciting (white!  blue!) while the refractors are a comfortable staple of a set with Chrome.  Kudos to Bowman for including two autographs and one jersey, even if none of them were exciting (and the autographs were stickers, but otherwise solidly designed).

Overall score:  35/50

I'd recommend this box to the frugal football collector, but only as an alternative to 2006 Topps, which I feel was a better overall set.

In closing:

WOLVERINES!

Brady and Edwards base, Avant/Massaquoi/Watson base RCs, Watson Chrome, Edwards Gold parallel