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Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:54 pm
by JWL
Since Rice, the greatest player who happened to once wear 80 for the Seahawks, was mentioned, I'd also like to note that the Cardinals are unretiring 99 for J.J. Watt.
Rice wore 81 in a Pro Bowl. That he couldn't wear something else in Seattle is so weird to me. Ditto Watt's situation. He cannot function without #99? His hair will fall out or something?
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:02 am
by Brian wolf
I actually thought Jack Tatum played better at #31 than #32 ...
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:09 am
by ChrisBabcock
Torry Holt wore 88 for his first three seasons with the Rams before switching to 81. I'm not sure why the switch.
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:55 am
by Bryan
ChrisBabcock wrote:Torry Holt wore 88 for his first three seasons with the Rams before switching to 81. I'm not sure why the switch.
Because Pat Summerall couldn't tell the difference between Isaac Bruce's #80 and Holt's #88 due to the Rams' ridiculous numerals at the time.
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:18 am
by Citizen
John Jurkovic switched from 92 to 64 when Reggie White came to Green Bay.
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:55 pm
by superbowlfanatic
Bengals Kicker Jim Breech kicked in 2 Super Bowl games wearing a different jersey number in each game, #10 in XVI and #3 in XXIII.
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:09 pm
by Gary Najman
ChrisBabcock wrote:Torry Holt wore 88 for his first three seasons with the Rams before switching to 81. I'm not sure why the switch.
Holt wore #81 in college at North Carolina State. When he was drafted by the Rams, #81 was already worn by Az-Zahir Hakim. When Hakim moved to the Lions in 2002, Holt switched to #81.
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:14 pm
by Gary Najman
superbowlfanatic wrote:Bengals Kicker Jim Breech kicked in 2 Super Bowl games wearing a different jersey number in each game, #10 in XVI and #3 in XXIII.
I have always wondered why he switched numbers after 5 seasons with the Bengals. IIRC no other player with the Bengals wore 3 from 1980 to 1984.
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:23 pm
by Gary Najman
JWL wrote:
Rice wore 81 in a Pro Bowl. That he couldn't wear something else in Seattle is so weird to me. Ditto Watt's situation. He cannot function without #99? His hair will fall out or something?
Back then, the longest tenured player in the league kept his number for the Pro Bowl and other players who had this number had to switch (I remember in the Pro Bowl after the 1976 season Drew Pearson wore #86 and Mel Gray wore #82 (because Alan Page and Jack Youngblood kept their numbers). Nowadays, there could be many players with the same numbers in a Pro Bowl
Re: Players who switched uniform numbers for new players on
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:00 pm
by racepug
Teo wrote:JuggernautJ wrote:The one that immediately comes to mind is the opposite: Len Dawson refused to allow Joe Montana to use his retired number (16) when Joe went to the Chiefs. Hence Joe wore #19 during his KC days.
Other similar cases was
when Steve Largent lent his #80 to Jerry Rice went he came to Seattle, and Frank Tripucka lent his #18 to Peyton Manning when he came to Denver.
I heard a story about that during one of the shows celebrating the NFL's 100 seasons. According to Steve Largent, both he and Jerry Rice were conned a little bit on that, with Steve being told "Jerry really wants to use #80" and Jerry being told "Steve is perfectly willing to unretire #80 for you" outside of the other person's knowledge (not saying that Jerry would've insisted on using #80 in Seattle or that Steve would've refused him, but that's the story I heard).