Pittsburgh Steelers punter Corliss Waitman says he gave up his previous No. 8 jersey to Aaron Rodgers for free. He wore that jersey number the entire 2024 season.
Waitman, who is now No. 3, never understood trying to get money out of Rodgers for the number he wanted.
“You know, it’s funny because (someone) told me, ‘Man, you guys can get a lot of money for (jersey) numbers nowadays,’” Waitman said to the Tribune-Review. “And I’m like, ‘Man, we get a lot of money to play football.’ You know what I mean?”
Waitman is wearing Russell Wilson’s old number. He loves wearing No. 3 and wanted to stay a single digit more than anything else.
“People act like I just gave up this great number, but I’m like, ‘I’ve still got a single digit,’” Waitman said. “I’ll be like, ‘What, you don’t like No. 3?’ They’ll be like, ‘Yeah, I like No. 3,’ and I’ll say, ‘No, I love No. 3.’
Rodgers will wear the No. 8. That is the number he wore with the New York Jets during his two seasons there. Rodgers first wore the number during his time at California in college.
Rodgers could not wear No. 12 because the Steelers had unofficially retired that number. With the Steelers, No. 12 was worn by quarterback Terry Bradshaw in the 1970s, and while not officially retired, the team has never handed out the number since Bradshaw retired. It is unlikely they ever will, and there are plenty of other numbers that the Steelers will never hand out again, like No. 43 withTroy Polamalu.