Show Notes
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April 15 is Tax Day for most people… but for us cardheads, it’s Topps Chrome Football Day!
For the first time since 2015, we’re getting a fully NFL-licensed Chrome set — and it has been a long ten years of waiting (especially for Topps fan boys, such as myself). This one uses the 2025 Topps Baseball design (not the 2026 version you’ve seen teased already), so you’ll recognize the look right away.
Hobby and Jumbo boxes are priced like they’re chasing Patrick Mahomes autographs, which puts them out of range for most of us budget collectors. But your local card shop should still have single packs if you just need a quick Chrome fix.
When Fanatics officially got the NFL license on April 1, nobody knew if we’d see a football release this season. There was even talk of waiting until after the 2026 draft. But come on — did anyone really think Fanatics was gonna pass up the chance to double up and cash in on two rookie classes in one year?
While everyone else is talking about the 1-of-1 Topps Rookie PREMIERE Patch Autographed cards that are possible pulls in this set, budget-minded collectors know they’ll likely never come close to pulling one.
But there are other awesome cards in this set, and other great features we’re excited about!
3 Things We Love About 2025 Topps Chrome Football
1. Future Stars
Some might shrug at the thought of pulling mediocre players among the Best 2025 Topps Chrome Football Rookie Cards, which includes not-yet-great quarterbacks, and injured stars like Travis Hunter and Cam Skattebo.
Thankfully, Topps Chrome will give the “Future Stars” treatment to the 2024 NFL Draft stars! From second-year star quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels to non-QB studs, like Jahmyr Gibbs, Rome Odunze, Malik Nabers, and Brock Bowers, we get NFL-licensed Topps cards.
But as an extra bonus, Topps is even throwing in 2023 NFL Draft players, like C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, J.J. McCarthy, and Michael Penix Jr. (I feel like those cards should have a question mark at the end, like “Future Stars?”)
2. Tecmo Bowl Cards!
It’s time to dust off your Nintendo games, blow out the cartridge of Tecmo Bowl, and appreciate the newest Tecmo Bowl inserts! Some believe this will be a Downtown-type chase card, as far as rarity and specialness. I love this – but I’m hoping they’re not quite as rare as Downtowns. (Can we just have Home Field Advantage-type rarity?)
This checklist is a mix of NFL legends, like Bo Jackson, Walter Payton, Dan Marino, and Lawrence Taylor, along with rookie stars we expect to see, like Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart and Ashton Jeanty. We’ll also see five current non-rookie stars, like Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts.
It’s a great mix, in my opinion, but I’m telling you right now, I’m going to be mad if I pull one, and it’s Tim Brown or Randy White. (I’ll be jacked, however, if I pull Brian Bosworth!)
3. 1975 Topps Throwback Cards – 50th Anniversary
You know I love me some throwback cards! While Topps Baseball celebrates their designs from 35 years ago, and Topps Basketball went back 45 years to celebrate the 1980 Topps set, it’s interesting Topps landed on the 1975 set. It upsets me we’ll miss out on the standout 1969, 1970, 1971 and even 1973 sets, but I am grateful they wasted the 1974 Throwbacks on the unlicensed 2024 Topps Chrome cards.
Meanwhile, the upcoming years we should be excited about, when considering throwback designs:
* 2027: 1976 Topps design for Arch Manning, Dante Moore and Jeremiah Smith possibly? I love it!
* 2030: 1979 Topps design
* 2035: 1984 Topps design for Marshall Manning’s arrival?
* 2037: 1986 Topps design for Caesar Newton, Cam’s son!
Some other random nuggets I’m looking forward to:
* Mysterious Image Variations: Tom Brady, Walter Payton, Peyton Manning, Barry Sanders and Randy Moss all have cards listed (numbered 401 to 405) on the Topps checklist as Base Cards Image Variations. The base checklist ends at 400, so these are bonus cards somehow, and I’m here for it! Brady, Manning and Moss are all listed with the team that drafted them, in case you are break-curious.
* 1990 Topps Football Autographs: Not a great looking design, but it actually resembles the 2026 Topps design, with the stripes down the left side.
* Rookie Prem1ere Patch Autographs: These are the gridiron version of the Rookie Debut Patch Autographs in baseball and basketball. We’ll never pull one, but we can root for the millionaires and the breakers!
3 Things We Hate About 2025 Topps Chrome Football
1. One Hundred Rookie Cards in a 400-Card Set
Yes, there is no Series 2, or Topps Chrome Update, or anything like that – Topps gets one shot at delivering a checklist with all the best football players from the past year, and the best expected players of the upcoming year.
Unlike baseball, where middle relievers and backup catchers get carboard in a combined checklist that goes over 1,000 cards deep, football is limited. Sure, you’ll see some superstar linemen or defensive backs occasionally, but for the most part, it’s all skill positions and defensive stars.
We’re only getting 400 cards in this set, and since most people want the rookie cards, Topps is loading it with 100 rookies. Math majors will tell you – that’s 1 of every 4 cards in the checklist.
What stinks is – according to the box breakdown on Beckett, there are just three rookie cards in each value box (blaster). WHAT!?! They’re following the Panini path of spreading out the rookies, as opposed to Topps’ normal collation, where you’ll get rookie cards just as randomly as other cards.
That means for each value box purchase, you have about a 3% chance at hitting one of the rookie cards you are chasing.
That’s for a BASE card! Not cool, man.
2. It’s Expensive – and It’s a Mediocre Class
It’s not anything we didn’t expect, but yes, these cards, just like Topps Chrome Basketball, are expensive.
One interesting note, though, is that we already know how good these players are. What I mean by that, though, is with Topps Chrome Basketball, when it came out in December, we still weren’t sure how great this 2025 NBA Draft class would be, outside of Cooper Flagg. Now we know – it’s a great class!
We already know that the 2025 NFL Draft class isn’t great, so I expect we’ll see these blasters and hangers to sit at Target and Walmart for a while, once we get past the initial excitement of the new release.
3. The World of Football Card Collecting
Unlike baseball card collectors, which marvels at history, great shortstops, superstar pitchers, home run hitters, and possible Hall of Famers, football card collectors are much more finicky.
It’s quarterback or bust. And really, it’s “rookie quarterback” or bust.
Running backs and tight ends barely make a blip anymore, and while wide receivers are big now, take a look at how cheap Larry Fitzgerald rookie cards are – and he’s a top-five WR ever!
The lesson learned is probably that buying singles of the rookie quarterbacks is the smart move. Then again, maybe the lesson is going back a few years and buying RC singles of proven star QBs ready to rebound, like Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels. You can even go back and buy some great rookie cards of Hall of Famers like Dan Marino, Troy Aikman and Drew Brees (future HOF) in PSA 9 for under $100!
What’s your play for 2025 Topps Chrome Football? Are you buying – waiting – or passing?
Got some content ideas for me? Shoot me a note at gonoscards@gmail.com !
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