Card: Panini Contenders 2018
Acquired: 2018, Box Breaker

Way not to step up to the plate Panini. I don’t get it. I really like what they do, but when it comes to the intangibles of the market, Panini just falls flat on their face. Case in point: Serving me an autograph of a player who wasn’t drafted. OK. That’s not so bad… What’s bad is the fact that this guy retired a month BEFORE the draft due to lingering knee injuries. In fact he’d been retired so long that he’s had his PR team scrub his wikipedia entry, highlighting his accomplishments and billing him as a ‘political operative’, rather than a football player. I mean, Panini either didn’t care or didn’t have the time to remove all his cards/autographs from the set, but still Panini should’ve offered me a replacement, at least, instead of crickets on Twitter.
Since I got this initial card, I have pulled an additional 2 duplicates of this autograph which begged me to wonder how poor the sorting machine is at Panini.

Ok now- let’s talk about Adam Brenemen. A lifelong football fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, Adam was recognized and encouraged by his coaches while in high school for his athletic talent. He went to college initially at Penn State and in his true Freshman year caught 15 passes with 3 going for touchdowns; However an MRI in 2014 showed significant knee ligament damage- so much so that Adam had to leave the sport behind.

Still hearing the siren’s call, Adam decided to give it another shot after transferring to UMASS in 2016. He put up some great numbers playing for the Minutemen with 70 catches for 808 yards and 8 TDs in 2016, and 64 receptions for 764 yards and 4 TDs. Unfortunately his lingering knee injury worsened and he was forced to retire before draft day at the age of 22.