Aaron Rodgers will not be sporting his signature No. 12 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who he officially signed with on Saturday. Instead, like he did with the New York Jets, Rodgers will wear No. 8 for the Steelers.
Though Rodgers wore the No. 12 jersey for the majority of his career—and throughout his entire tenure with the Green Bay Packers—he has since switched to No. 8 on the Jets and Steelers since both teams have retired the No. 12 jersey. The Jets retired No. 12 in honor of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath while the Steelers did the same for Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw.
Additionally, he wore the No. 8 jersey in college at Cal, so the number still holds meaning to the four-time NFL MVP.
Namath offered to unretire his jersey number for Rodgers in 2023 before Rodgers even joined the team, but Rodgers opted against doing so because he wanted to leave 12 as Namath's iconic number with the team.
"There are some iconic names that have played here, probably none more iconic than number 12," Rodgers said in 2023, via the Jets' team website. "And I heard what he said about unretiring his number, but to me, 12 is Broadway Joe and I didn't even want to go down that path. And I'm excited about going back to my college number."
Even if Rodgers did change his stance and was looking to wear No. 12 for the Steelers, it's hard to imagine Bradshaw would have been okay unretiring his number for Rodgers. Before Rodgers signed with Pittsburgh, Bradshaw expressed harsh words about the idea of Rodgers signing with the Steelers during a recent appearance on 103.7 The Buzz's Morning Mayhem show.
"That is to me just a joke," Bradshaw said of Rodgers on May 27. "What are you going to do? Bring him in for one year? Are you kidding me?"
"That guys needs to stay in California," Bradshaw continued. "Go somewhere and chew on bark. Whisper to the gods out there."
Rodgers will ultimately stick with No. 8 as he gets ready for his first season as a Steeler and his 21st NFL season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Rodgers Chooses Jersey Number After Signing With Steelers.