Dak Prescott Autograph Investigation Finds Some Signatures May Not Be Authentic

Panini America released a statement Friday night to confirm some signatures from Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott on its trading cards "may not be authentic."

The company announced it's begun the process of recalling the cards in question, which come from the 2016 NFL Prizm series, and will issue remanufactured cards with a special hologram. Prescott and his representatives told Panini they had "no knowledge" of the potentially auto-penned cards being returned.

Darren Rovell of ESPN.com noted Beckett Grading Services wouldn't verify Prescott's autograph on the cards in question. Steve Grad, the grading company's principal authenticator, told Rovell it wasn't hard to tell it wasn't a real signature.

"They had a very machine-like feel," Grad said. "You could see the starts and stops."

He added: "I immediately knew they were autopen. I've never heard of a modern athlete doing this."

Although Panini acknowledged potential problems with the Prescott cards, the announcement included a long-term contract extension with the quarterback for future cards. It said he correctly provided "thousands" of autographs to the company during his rookie season in the NFL.

Panini said it's going to contact all of the collectors who received the cards before the recall started. The hologram will be used to differentiate the real cards once they are reissued.

Prescott has not publicly commented on the matter.