Which 49ers player should wear No. 0 on jersey?

The NFL on Tuesday approved a rule proposal from the Philadelphia Eagles that will change the available jersey numbers to include No. 0. That raises the inevitable question of which player will wear the jersey on each team.

It’s important to note the No. 0 can’t just be handed out to any player. Offensive linemen and defensive linemen are unable to don the new jersey. Offensive lineman may wear 50-79, while defensive linemen have the same 50-79 available, along with 90-99.

Here’s our guess at which player (if any) will/should rock the No. 0 for the 49ers this season:

SS Talanoa Hufanga

The No. 29 is a good jersey number for a defensive back, but Hufanga could really distinguish himself with the No. 0. Having that on his jersey with the hair flowing out of his helmet while he runs around wreaking havoc would be great.

RB Christian McCaffrey

With Jeff Wilson Jr. gone, McCaffrey could move back to the No. 22 he wore for his entire career with the Panthers. However, he’s a unique weapon and the switch to 0 would help signify that. It could also establish something of a tradition where the 0 jersey goes to the team’s “best” offensive player. The issue for San Francisco is that they have too many good offensive players to make that distinction easy in 2023.

WR Deebo Samuel

This is here for the same reason McCaffrey is – unique playmaker gets a unique number.

QB Trey Lance

Whichever player wears this jersey will undoubtedly get the nickname Agent 0. Hear us out: Trey-gent 0.

LB Fred Warner

The 54 is very good, don’t get it twisted. But the 0 roaming the middle of the front 7 would look extremely cool.

QB Sam Darnold

It’s a new chapter in Darnold’s career, and he can start that with a new number! He’s at the start of what he hopes to be a new era, so beginning with 0 on his jersey would be logical. It would be important to move on from it if he has some success though, because 0 is a bad QB number.

CB Deommodore Lenoir

As Twitter user @MichaelC8920 astutely pointed out, Lenoir wore No. 0 in college at Oregon.

S George Odum

A special teams ace running around with 0 would be a great look that helps a thankless job stand out a little more.

FB Kyle Juszczyk

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

He doesn’t necessarily play a traditional fullback role, but he also doesn’t land in a traditional tight end bucket. Give him a number that reflects his place in the liminal space between two positions.