2010 Topps Football Jumbo Box

Our next box is one I've been looking forward to for a while:  2010 Topps football.  I've been collecting this set for the last few years so I couldn't wait for it to get released this year, especially with another promising crop of rookies (and Jimmy Clausen).  I would have been more timely with this review, but the seller from whom I bought the box decided to ship me a standard hobby box first, so I had to wait while that got rectified.  Read on to find out if I would be pleased with the results like Sports Cards Uncensored or pretty disappointed.
 

• Purchased from/price:  eBay, $88.90
• Packs/cards:   10 packs / 50 cards
• Set size:  440 base cards
• Key features:  Two autographs and one relic per box;  Gridiron Giveaway cards
• Key cards: RCs of this year's popular draft picks, including Bradford, Suh, Football Jesus, "Yakety Sax" Clausen, and the rest
• Michigan Wolverines:  Brandon Graham RC, Braylon Edwards, Chad Henne, Charles Woodson, David Harris, Jake Long, Jason Avant, LaMarr Woodley, Leon Hall, Mario Manningham, Steve Breaston, Steve Hutchinson, Tom Brady (x2)

Base card front

Base card back

Base RC

Jonathan Dwyer base RC and SP variation

• Set completion:  367/440 (83%)
• Extras:  49 doubles, 2 triples

Inserts:  Ring of Honor, Attax, Gold parallel, 75th NFL Draft, 1952 Bowman, Reprint, Gridiron Lineage, Peak Performance

The box's three promised hits

 

• Inserts:
• RC SP varations:  Jonathan Dwyer
• Topps Attax (aka WasteACard®):  10:  Miles Austin (2x), Brian Urlacher, Ray Rice, Jonathan Vilma, Matt Schaub, DeSean Jackson, Darrell Revis, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Wilson (1:1, 10 expected)
• Gold Parallel (#'d to 2010):  10:  DeSean Jackson, Cincinnati Bengals, LaDainian Tomlinson, Kevin Boss, Dallas Clark, Brandon Jacobs, Chris Chambers, Cortland Finnegan, Wes Welker, Steve Breaston (1:1, 10 expected)
• Draft 75th Anniversary:  10:  Joe Montana, Demaryius Thomas, Randy Moss, LaDainian Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith, Eric Berry, Brett Favre, Dexter McCluster, Brandon Marshall, Ray Lewis (1:1, 10 expected)
• 1952 Bowman:  10:  Calvin Johnson, Jimmy Clausen, Rashard Mendenhall, CJ Spiller, Demaryius Thomas, Philip Rivers, DeAngelo Williams, Montario Hardesty (1:1, 10 expected)
• Topps Reprint:  5:  Chris Johnson 2008, Tom Brady 2002, Steven Jackson 2004, Troy Polamalu 2005, Ray Lewis 1997 (1:2, 5 expected)
• Ring of Honor:  Drew Brees (1:10, 1 expected)
• Peak Performance:  10:  Kellen Winslow (2x), Sam Bradford, Jerome Harrison, Mike Sims-Walker, Tim Tebow, Jerod Mayo, Dez Bryant, Eli Manning, Michael Crabtree
• Gridiron Lineage:  11:  Marino/Brees, Brown/Peterson, Montana/Clausen, T. Thomas/Spiller, Willis/McClain, Aikman/Romo, E. Smith/Tomlinson, Moss/Bryant, Elway/Tebow, Tomlinson/Mathews, Dawkins/Berry
• Gridiron Giveaway:  10 (1:1, 10 expected) 
• Autographs:  Peak Performance autograph Marques Colston and Jacoby Ford (2:box)
• Relics:  Peak Performance jersey Dez Bryant (1:box)

• Best pack: #3, which included a Lions team card, Steve Hutchinson, Chad Henne, RCs of Sean Weatherspoon, CJ Spiller, Colt McCoy and Jimmy Clausen, Drew Brees, Adrian Peterson, Ben Roethlisberger, a Gridiron Lineage of Randy Moss/Dez Bryant, and the Dez Bryant Peak Performance jersey.
• Worst pack:  Nothing to complain about today
• Quality control:  9/10  Just a few cards with dinged corners 
• Collation:  4/10  The biggest reason for this failing grade?  Have a look at the numbers up above.  In a jumbo box that produced 418 base cards (out of the 500 overall), more than 12% were doubles or triples--that's just piss poor.  With the set size reaching 440, I couldn't expect to pull a complete set, but how can Topps justify more than 10% of my cards being extras?  On top of that, I pulled doubles of two different inserts, including one of the horrendous Attax cards.  Very disappointing, and possibly proof that I should stop buying jumbo boxes, even if it means having to buy multiple hobby boxes.
• Value:  5/10  Pros:  an excellent group of rookies, a large base set, pretty good inserts, three hits per box.  Cons:  Horrible collation, Attax cards are a complete waste of a card, and did I mention that collation really, really sucked?  For almost $90 a collector deserves better
• Set design and player selection:  8/10  Another typical white-bordered Topps design.  My biggest gripe is the extra-large team names taking up a good chunk of each card.  The rookie shots are great, though, and the variations are a nice touch
• Inserts and extras:  8/10 The design of the hits was pretty cool, the Reprints are awesome in my book, Gridiron Giveaway cards are a fun, if overrated (I've seen some pretty underwhelming results on the old Transmogrifier) bonus, and the SP variations should be big draws.  However, I give the set a -2 for continuing to use the deplorable Attax cards and swiping the underwhelming Lineage concept from the baseball set.

Overall score:  34/50
I'm probably even being a bit generous, although there's plenty to like with this set.  But for my money, the jumbo box isn't the way to go.  Hopefully this was just an isolated incident of a bad box considering some of what I've seen around the internets.  I definitely recommend that collectors go after the set, though, as Topps continues to be the football set I like to put together and keep every year.
 

Finally...