Giants first round draft pick Abdul Carter wore #11 at Penn State, but can't wear it for the Giants because it's retired for Phil Simms. So, instead, he decided that he wanted to wear #56 and even went so far as to ask Lawrence Taylor if it was OK. Lawrence Taylor. LT. The greatest player in franchise history. Is he out of his ever-loving mind?! LT shot him down as expected. As he should've.
The audacity to even ask that is mind-boggling! Lawrence Taylor is a Giants icon. Abdul Carter may become one. Or he may be another first-round bust. Either way, #56 is LT's number and always will be. If Abdul Carter wants to have his own legacy, that's exactly what it should be. His own identity. Forged wearing a number that he can make his own. Which is basically what LT told him when he wouldn't let him wear 56.
This is actually the second year in a row that the Giants' first round pick has asked for a retired number. Last year, Malik Nabors asked the family of Ray Flaherty if they had a problem with him wearing Flaherty's retired #1. They didn't, so the Giants allowed him to wear it. So, the precedent's been set. Frankly, I don't think Malik Nabors should be wearing #1 either. But Ray Flaherty's also not Lawrence Taylor. (And Ray Flaherty played in the 1930s, so there aren't many living Giants fans who remember him...if there are any at all. Different story with LT.)
Meanwhile, Joe Namath is the Jets' Lawrence Taylor. The revered franchise icon. Aaron Rodgers was #12 with the Packers, but it was Namath's number with the Jets. So, what did Rodgers do? He switched to #8! And Rodgers is a future Hall of Famer! Same thing when Joe Montana was traded from San Francisco to Kansas City. Len Dawson wore Montana's #16 in Kansas City, so he switched to #19 with the Chiefs. Joe Montana, a four-time Super Bowl-winning Hall of Famer.
It's not just football, either. When Shaq joined the Lakers, he couldn't be either #32 (the number he'd worn in Orlando) because it's retired for Magic Johnson or #33 (the number he wore at LSU) because it's retired for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So, instead he wore #34 (which has since been retired for him). Karl Malone famously wore #32 in Utah, but he had the same problem when he joined the Lakers, so he switched to #11.
Those are just two examples. There are plenty more. So many veterans have changed their number when they join a new team, whether it's because another player is already wearing their preferred number or because their old number is retired for someone else. They understand the situation and know changing their number, even though they might not necessarily want to, is sometimes part of the deal. It's also a sign of respect for the person whose number is retired. They've obviously played a significant enough role in the franchise's history to warrant the honor.
That's why I used the word "audacity" when referring to Abdul Carter's request. Because that's exactly what it is. And it's really nothing more than another symptom of the entitlement that's running rampant throughout college football in the NIL era. A sense of entitlement that, unfortunately, seems like it's only going to get worse. (Just like how players will continue to transfer because they're "not making what they're worth" at their current school.)
Now, it's not unprecedented for a number to be taken out of retirement after a player asked for it. When Peyton Manning was traded to the Broncos, Frank Tripucka, whose #18 was retired in Denver, gave Manning his blessing to wear the same number he'd worn in Indianapolis. It was the same thing when Jerry Rice went to Seattle at the end of his career. Hall of Famer Steve Largent, arguably the greatest player in Seahawks history, wore #80 in Seattle, but graciously agreed to let Rice wear the number he'd made iconic in San Francisco for that half season with the Seahawks at the end of his career. (Which rankled many Seahawks fans.)
There's a big difference between Peyton Manning and Abdul Carter, though. When Peyton Manning and Jerry Rice changed teams, they were respected veterans well on their way to Hall of Fame careers. They'd also become synonymous with that number. As much as them giving up the number would've been a sign of respect, them being allowed to wear it was a massive sign of respect the other way. Respect that Peyton Manning and Jerry Rice had earned.
Abdul Carter is a rookie. He's not even a rookie! He's a guy who was literally just drafted! He's done nothing in the NFL! The thought that he wanted to wear Lawrence Taylor's number on the Giants is simply asinine! Now, Carter seemed to acknowledge the fact that the request was likely going to be turned down. But why even ask? As LT told him, don't you want to forge your own legacy and make it so that a number becomes synonymous with you? So that when/if he were to leave the Giants, he and his number became so intertwined that he'd be able to keep it on his new team even if someone else is already wearing it.
We see that all the time, of course. The veteran getting traded to or signing with a new team and buying his number from the player who's currently wearing it for some sort of gift. There was actually a pretty funny story about the Hurricanes' Jack Roslovic. When Mikko Rantanen got traded to Carolina in February, he bought Roslovic a Rolex in exchange for his #96. When Rantanen was traded again to Dallas a few weeks later, Roslovic switched back to 96...and got to keep the Rolex!
Roslovic is also a veteran. He didn't give up the number just for a free watch. He did it because Mikko Rantanen is a superstar. It's what you do when your team acquires one of those high-priced, respected veterans. They've earned it. Could Rantanen have taken a different number? Of course! He would've had to had Roslovic not been willing to give 96 up. But that's not the point. Some veterans don't just become attached to a particular number, they make it part of their personal brand. So, the number's important to them in another sense, as well.
And let's not forget the fans. The fans are going to associate a number with a particular player, especially if that player is beloved. After Paul O'Neill retired, the Yankees didn't give out #21 until LaTroy Hawkins asked for it in 2008. Fans didn't like that and let Hawkins know (the fact that he sucked didn't help matters). Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera had to explain to Hawkins why fans hated him and convinced him to change his number. The Yankees never issued it again before finally retiring it for O'Neill in 2022.
Likewise, #51 was Bernie Williams' number. It was also the number both Randy Johnson and Ichiro Suzuki (who should have a joint #51 number retirement for the Mariners) wore for their entire careers...except for the time they spent with the Yankees. Johnson and Williams overlapped for two years in 2005-06. Johnson is the one who changed. To #41. When Ichiro was on the Yankees, he was #31. Ichiro Suzuki, a future Hall of Famer, changed his number in deference to Bernie Williams, a player who's decidedly not.
I don't bring up these examples to pile on Abdul Carter. Rather, I bring them up to show how misguided the request was. I'm glad Lawrence Taylor was having none of it. For Carter's sake. Asking for the number of the greatest player in franchise history was dumb in its own right. But imagine if he sucked while wearing it? He'd never hear the end of it from pissed off fans wondering why the number of a franchise icon was taken out of retirement in the first place.
While some might argue this next point, franchises don't retire numbers willy nilly. (A point that's generally true, although, I do concede that some number retirements are more questionable than others.) Asking to wear a retired number is completely different than asking a teammate to switch numbers. Teams retire numbers for a reason. For them to even consider unretiring one, there needs to be extenuating circumstances. And a rookie wanting to wear it doesn't qualify. Sorry Abdul Carter.
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