AAF Two Box Break

I've really been enjoying the Alliance Of American Football games since they started back in early February.  Topps jumped in and came out with the premiere set of cards on March 22.  I picked up two boxes from Blowout and they showed up a day early.

Breaking down to 24 packs per box, 10 cards per pack, and as you can see, there are three autographs per box.

Nice looking design with the team colors and logos prominent on the front.  If you haven't been watching, (and if not, you've been missing out if you're a football fan), there are eight teams in two divisions.  The color selections are excellent, and each team is named for a significant feature of their community.  Good idea for an insert set next year maybe.

So far, the Orlando Apollos are the dominant team in the league.  But the competition has been pretty consistent for all eight clubs, so as they go along, it's getting better and better.

To my delight, I basically got a set out of each box.  The second box was short one card, but was better in terms of inserts etc. as I'll show in a bit.  The most well-known people to football fans who aren't familiar with the league are some of the founders and executives.  Michael Vick was slated to be the OC for Atlanta, but when Brad Childress bailed (again?), and some family issues happened, he moved to a league office role in player development.  Steeler collectors might want the two top execs Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu.  And there's CEO Charlie Ebersol represented in this set as well.

Also some famous names in the head coaching ranks.  The Ol' Ball Coach is off to a great start with a 6-1 record in Orlando.  Mike Singletary is having all kinds of bad luck, but his team is better than their 2-5 record indicates.  Mike Martz and Dennis Erickson are famous from their days on the NFL sidelines.  And you might recognize Neuheisel from his college announcing.

Some of the more unique representations are the female assistant coaches.  I know someone collects women in sports.  These are right up your alley.  Dr. Jen Welter paved the way for women coaches with Arizona in the NFL, and has done the same in the AAF.

Most of these guys made some kind of splash in the big show too.  Trent Richardson played several years with a couple teams, and now leads the AAF in touchdowns.  Gavin Escobar was a high pick for the Cowboys.  Charles Johnson is tearing it up at WR for the Apollos, coming from a few seasons with the Vikings.  Nick Novak was a top 10 kicker for the Chargers, and Stacy, Mettenberger, and Murray were all high draft picks.  Murray was a commentator for CBS college broadcasts before he put the helmet back on.

The cards come in parallels, too, three or four per box.  Red are numbered to 99, blue to 50, and yellow to 25.  Got lucky pulling the Ol' Ball Coach.  Thought it was fitting that Denham was blue.

With 175 cards in the base set, these Future Stars round the total number to 200.  Some of these guys are playing and some are backups to this point.  Bercovici got what is probably the signature highlight when he was hit vs. the Commanders week 1.   He came back three weeks later and is playing well.

Lucked out on my auto hits.  Pressley is the league's leading rusher through 7 games.  Got a bonus 4th auto in the second box (instead of the last card for the set?).  I think it was either Ross or Philips.

Felton here is my last card for the second set.  If anyone is trading these, let me know if you have him, or any spares of the Future Stars inserts.  I'll even swap autos if there's someone you like better than one you have.

Gives you a look at the backs as well.  Nobody has stats yet, even college or NFL, they've all got the paragraph blurb.  Next year they'll probably have AAF numbers.  My only quibble with the design in the small card number.  Sometimes it's hard to distinguish 6's, 8's, and 9's with plus quinquagenarian eyes.

There is a digital code link to the AAF app which they have promoted heavily, but I have not delved into. 

Overall, I like these a lot.  Clean design with mostly readable text elements.  Topps was making stuff microscopic their last few years of licensed NFL cards.  These are better.  I hope the league thrives and Topps gets a chance to expand the set and diversify the inserts in the next several years.