Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has “no knowledge” of how machine-generated autographs ended up on some of his trading cards.
Panini America, the Irving, Texas, based trading card company that has an exclusive autographed trading card agreement with Prescott, released a statement Friday night. It came a day after ESPN reported that an autograph authentication company refused to verify Prescott’s signature in a recent card set.
Panini absolved Prescott after an investigation and announced it had signed the second-year player to a long-term extension.
Here is Panini’s press release:
“Panini America executives and quarterback Dak Prescott met on Thursday to investigate in detail a limited quantity of Prescott-autographed trading cards that were issued as redemptions for Panini America’s 2016 NFL Prizm trading card product.
“Last week, after being contacted by an autograph authenticator and following an internal quality control process, Panini America officials determined that a small quantity of Prescott autographs received for 2016 Prizm Football may not be authentic.
“As an immediate precaution, Panini America began recalling all Prizm Football Dak Prescott autograph cards, stopping deliveries to 110 customers. Not all shipments were able to be recalled, however, and 167 cards were ultimately delivered to customers.
“It was also discovered that some of Prescott’s Prizm cards are still unaccounted for. Panini has committed to remanufacturing all the Dak Prescott Prizm Football cards, which Dak will sign to replace all the autograph cards within the Prizm collection. All the remanufactured cards for the Prizm collection autographed by Prescott will feature a special Dak Prescott hologram to differentiate the new cards.
“Panini is in the process of contacting the remaining customers affected and recalling the 2016 Prizm Football Prescott redemption cards to replace them. The company urges anyone offered a 2016 Prizm Dak Prescott autographed card not featuring the special hologram to contact Panini America immediately.
“On Thursday, Prescott and Panini America agreed to a long-term extension on his exclusive autographed trading card agreement to commit to delivering quality and authentic products to collectors. Prescott has autographed thousands of Panini America trading cards during his rookie season, has participated in multiple authenticated signing sessions and received additional card shipments throughout the year and returned them to Panini America to be incorporated into products. Prescott and his representatives have worked closely with Panini during this process since becoming aware of the discrepancies and have no knowledge of how those cards were returned to Panini.”