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Rookie Jersey Numbers


Eazy-E

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If I recall correctly, rookie jersey numbers are announced about a week or so after the draft. Do you think with everything going on that it will be delayed at all?

I know it seems trivial but there isn't a lot going on and I like to see what numbers players pick.

Kind of makes me sad that we don't have a WR with a number in the 80's. When did the teens become the popular numbers for receivers? I guess I come from the generation of the top dogs like Steve Smith, Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens, Andre Johnson, Hines Ward, etc all wearing numbers in the 80s. Now I don't think I can name a single receiver in the league that is rocking a number in the 80s.

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We should see them pretty soon, at least the top picks.  Teams/the NFL want to start selling jerseys as fast as they can.

As far as when numbers in the teens became fashionable for receivers, I'd say literally the minute the league decided to let them wear them.  The very next crop of WR draftees flocked to those numbers.

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The Ringer did a good article about the transition from jersey numbers in the 80s to the teens for WRs. Apparently our very own Keyshawn Johnson was the (modern) trendsetter. He got assigned 19 in rookie camp because all the 80s on the roster were already taken. Despite the NFL not updating the uniform code until almost a decade later, he was allowed to keep it.

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Johnson loved the number, deciding to keep it even after numbers in the 80s opened up. An old ESPN article explained that neither the NFL nor the Jets could fully remember why Johnson was allowed to keep wearing no. 19 into the regular season—just that Johnson was “very persistent” about it. Johnson was a perfect trendsetter, a brash superstar with dynamic skills and a legion of haters. His number was yet another representation of his iconoclastic ways. Other players wanted in, but the league remained steadfast in forcing every other receiver to wear numbers in the 80s for almost a decade.

Until 2004, that is, when the league made its first change to its uniform numbering policies in 20 years by opening up nos. 10 through 19 to wide receivers. There was good justification for the change: The passing game had grown significantly in importance over the course of three decades, and the majority of teams were rostering at least five receivers. Factor in the presence of three tight ends (also required to wear numbers in the 80s) on many rosters and the fact that some franchises had retired the jersey numbers of a handful of receivers, and teams were simply running out of space. Left unsaid was the other reason: Players wanted to be like Keyshawn.

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12 minutes ago, Stumpy said:

The Ringer did a good article about the transition from jersey numbers in the 80s to the teens for WRs. Apparently our very own Keyshawn Johnson was the (modern) trendsetter. He got assigned 19 in rookie camp because all the 80s on the roster were already taken. Despite the NFL not updating the uniform code until almost a decade later, he was allowed to keep it.

Very own Keyshawn Johnson.......

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