If anyone wonders why I bash Panini like a pinata any chance I get, this set is prime example. Over the course of 2016, Panini has done absolutely nothing to show they deserve the NFL exclusive, and seeing this new product is even more evidence that they probably dont deserve to have any licenses. Their continued obsession with these goofy looking awkward posed photos is nauseating, and I am literally sitting here laughing that someone on their product team green lighted this disaster.

What is even more concerning is that they dont seem to see the writing on the wall when it comes to developing new brands. Shit like this product wont bring new innovation to the table, as it is literally the same garbage they put out regularly with a new name. Its one thing to put together a white dominated design, which can work if done right. Its another thing to use a super zoom photo of a player’s back that was already used in Prizm and looked terrible there too.

I hate this. I knew this is what the Panini exclusive would amount to, and the look on Jared Goff’s face is that of how I am taking this first year under the Panini banner. What should have been an absolutely incredible year is marred with overproduction, terrible designs, and new products that make 2012 Bowman Draft look like its a worthwhile product. I never believed that Panini would literally take a nose dive off the deep end, but here we are.

I could only imagine what would happen if Topps were still around to take Panini to task, as digital is showing that the brands we love would have been amazing in a physical world. Instead we are left with a visual that looks like the port-a-potty outside a tailgate. Yup, that’s how bad football is right now. Pretty horrible picture in your head, and that’s not even putting it close to the car accident that represents Panini’s attempt at a product calendar.

At first it was bitterness that the sport I love would be dominated by a company that literally does not know how to make good football cards. Now its despair that this is what we will be forced to endure for the next 10 years. My hatred can only be expressed in the 400 point font that they used for Will Fuller’s hideous card in this preview. Fuck us all.