Now that the Jets trade for Aaron Rodgers is reportedly official, the team can focus on more important things, like what number the quarterback is going to wear.
New York has already retired No. 12, the digits that belonged to Hall of Famer Joe Namath, but the legendary quarterback gave Rodgers his blessing to wear it back in January.
“If he’s there, yeah, I want him to wear his number,” Namath said before the trade came to fruition. “We establish ourselves, and we got a real respect for our numbers, and Aaron Rodgers, God almighty yeah, it would be great to have him in New York.”
Despite Namath’s blessing, Rodgers will not be unretiring the No. 12 in New York. Instead, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Rodgers will wear No. 8, the same number he wore in college with Cal. When Rodgers was first drafted by Green Bay, the No. 8 belonged to longtime kicker Ryan Longwell, who played his final Packers season during Rodgers’s rookie year.
So Namath’s number will remain untouched, something that may matter to a franchise that only has one quarterback’s number retired.
