Cards From the Best Players of the Decade
With the ’90s in the rearview mirror, the early Aughts introduced fans to a new world of exciting football action. The century kicked off with The Greatest Show on Turf; then the hits just kept coming – Tom Brady took over the Patriot’s starting job to derail Kurt Warner’s (St. Louis) Rams and begin a dynasty. In 2002, the league realigned for the first time since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to build a fresh set of rivalries that have stuck to this day. Of course, Jerry Rice was still catching passes among all the changes.
Meanwhile, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison collected a Super Bowl trophy, Ladanian Tomlinson would do everything a human being could conceivably do on a football field, sometimes all in a single game, and Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, and inconceivably even more QB’s would show off some of the most outstanding offensive play in the history of the league. And, decades-old records would be shattered – whether it was Walter Payton’s single-game rushing record, broken by Corey Dillon’s 278 yards, or Devin Hester’s inconceivable rookie year returning kicks – this decade had non-stop action. It’s actually pretty hard to boil it all down, but it was the end of the great single-rusher era and the beginning of the passing game we know today.
Of course, Topps was on the sidelines the whole time, expanding on their sets with more inserts, parallels, and unique designs. These are just a few of the funkiest cards from the 2000s that you can still collect.
The Funkiest Cards Of The 2000s
2007 Topps Finest Moments #FMA-AP Adrian Peterson RC Auto
Player info
• 2012 MVP
• Holds NFL record for Most rushing yards in a single game (296)
Set info
• 150 card base set
• A whopping 18 auto sets
card back
• Vitals, draft info, college stats, and a biography of his time rushing the ball in Oklahoma, including the fact that at the time, he was the fifth back in big 12 history with at least 4,000 career rushing yards
2001 Topps Chrome Football #229 Drew Brees Refractor RC /999
Player info
• Best pass completion percentage, single season (74.4% in 2018)
• Most 5,000 yard seasons in NFL history: 5
Card info
• 220 card base set
• 6 insert sets with two parallels (black refractors and refractors)
card back
• vitals, draft info, and a short biography on his college years and lack of recruitment coming out of high school. It rightly says “he has the intangibles to become a special player in the NFL”
2004 Topps Chrome Football #9 Brian Urlacher
Player info
• 2005 NFL defensive player of the year
• 2018 hall of fame inductee
Card info
• 275 card set
• 8 insert sets
card back
• Vitals, career stats to that point, and a bio rightfully placing him alongside other great bears linebackers such as Dick butkus and Mike singletary
2002 Topps Chrome Football Own the Game #OG14 Shaun Alexander
Player info
• 2005 AP MVP and Offensive player of the year
• Ran for an NFL record 5 TDs in one half
Card info
• 265 card set and 11 insert sets, including own the game and own the game refractors
card back
• vitals and a look back at his 2001 sophomore NFL season in which he rushed for 266 yards in a game against the Oakland raiders
2003 Topps Football #240 Kurt Warner Gold Parallel /499
Player info
• First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
• 2000 super bowl XXXIV winner and mvp
• Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9%
Card info
• 385 total cards with 18 insert sets and three parallels (black, gold, and topps collection)
card back
• Vitals, And a quote from then head coach Mike Martz calling him one of the great qbs
2008 Topps Football #328 Tom Brady
Player info
• the GOAT – 2007 MVP and opoy
• 2015 hall of fame inductee
Card info
• 440 total cards
• 46 insert sets and 8 parallels
card back
• vitals, and his 2007 season stat breakdown: 398/578 for 4806 YDS, 50 TDs, and 8 INT and a recap of the 2007 in which the patriots went 16-0 (only to lose in the super bowl to the giants)
2005 Topps Football 50th Anniversary #4 LaDainian Tomlinson
Player info
• Most single season touchdowns: 31 (2006) and rushing Tds: 28 (2006)
• 2006 NFL mvp
Card info
• 440 total card set
• first-ever chrome football cards in topps history
card back
• vitals, career stats, and quote by Marty Schottenheimer calling LT “arguably as good a player as there is in this league”, plus a factoid about LT becoming the 9th player in history to start a career with four consecutive 1000-yard seasons
2001 Topps Chrome Football Ground Warriors #GW3 Marshall Faulk Refractor
Player info
• Most consecutive seasons with 2,000 yards from scrimmage: 4
• two-time Ap NFL MVP and 2000 offensive player of the year
Card info
• 220 card set
• 30 card own the game refractor set
card back
• Year 2000 stats, and a short bio on his incredible 2000 season in which he had a pair of 200-yard rushing games
