Joe Namath's No. 12 jersey is retired by the Jets. Aaron Rodgers wore No. 12 for the Packers. Now what?
Joe Namath's No. 12 jersey is retired by the Jets. Aaron Rodgers has worn the same number his entire career with the Packers.
Even when he was calling the likelihood of the Jets landing Aaron Rodgers “far-fetched” in a radio interview back in January, Joe Namath was already preparing for the quarterback to not only come to his city and play for his team but potentially wear his jersey number.
“I’m a big Rodgers fan, and I noticed that he wears number 12 of course,” Namath, the Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Jets to their only Super Bowl title 54 seasons ago, told WFAN on Jan. 19. “Man, if we get him, is he still going to be wearing number 12? Because that number was retired years ago.”
The Jets did retire Namath’s iconic number in 1985. When the radio hosts told Namath it would likely be up to him whether it would come down from the proverbial rafters and onto Rodgers’ back, Namath first demurred then eventually endorsed the idea.
“Well, it’s on ownership,” he said. “It’s different ownership [than when Namath played]. Different people. And I’d sure love Rodgers if he’s there. Yeah, I want him to wear his number. We established ourselves and we’ve got a real respect for our numbers, and Aaron Rodgers, God almighty, yeah! It’d be great to have him in New York.”
There are likely to be fans who balk at the football sacrilege of any player besides Namath wearing 12 for the Jets. Then again there may be more than a few who wouldn’t mind seeing the number back in use . . . so long as it yields the same result it did in the 1968 season.
As for Rodgers, he may not even be interested in wearing it should the teams work out a deal.
Rodgers was asked about the situation on Wednesday during his hour-long appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” but gave no indication of what he will wear in New York.
“With respect to the emotions, I think there will be time for all of those conversations down the road,” he said. “I’ve seen what Joe said. There will be time to talk about that down the road.”
Rodgers has worn 12 since he arrived in the NFL with the Packers in 2005, but before that the number had almost no meaning to him. He’s said in past interviews that when he arrived in Green Bay he had hoped to wear No. 8, which is what he wore in his two seasons at Cal, but that number was already taken by longtime kicker Ryan Longwell. Rodgers was randomly assigned 12 simply because no one else was wearing it at the time. In his second NFL season Rodgers, with Longwell gone, Rodgers was given the option to wear 8 but decided to stick with 12.
Wide receiver Elijah Moore currently wears No. 8 for the Jets.
The number 12 has been associated with many great quarterbacks throughout the history of the NFL including Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Ken Stabler, Jim Kelly and Bob Griese, not to mention Namath and Rodgers.
It would not be unprecedented to unretire a number for a big acquisition. New York has already done so once before. The Giants retired their 14 jersey in honor of Ward Cuff at the end of his career in 1945. In 1961, though, the Giants traded for Y.A. Tittle and he asked to wear that number, which he had donned during his time in San Francisco. Wellington Mara of the Giants allowed it and the number is now retired in honor of both players.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
