Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins explained why he decided not to wear the No. 8 jersey in Atlanta. Neither he nor Kyle Pitts wanted to pay the large sum of money needed to buy all the Pitts jerseys already available.
NFL rules say Cousins could only have the number if all those jerseys were purchased. Cousins shared on Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast that Pitts wanted to change numbers anyway, making it seem like a good swap.
However, the league intervened, saying they both needed to pay for all the No. 8 Pitts jerseys, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, Cousins stuck with No. 18, while Pitts chose No. 8.
Although Cousins wore No. 8 in Minnesota and Washington, as well as in college and high school, he won’t be wearing it in Atlanta. He initially wore No. 12 in Washington before switching to No. 8 in his third season there. Now, he has his third jersey number in the NFL.
