Aiden O’Connell switched jersey numbers because he feels it disrespects Derek Carr

I mean despite the numbers he put up, Carr didn't exactly leave on the best terms and while he put up some numbers he never really won anything there. Sure they did him wrong, but he basically refused all trades to ensure they would get nothing for him.

Beyond that, I guess I just never get the you can't wear someone's old number thing. In some other sports, like soccer for instance, it's considered to be honoring the other player by wearing their number. I guess I don't see how it's disrespectful. But, I do get that the culture of American football is different from other sports for some.
Imagine if Drew Brees didnt wear #9 in New Orleans because he felt it disrespected 1972-73 Saints legend Happy Feller.

If Oconnell wanted to change numbers fine. Dont make up a legend as an excuse. Paying respect to a perpetually average qb seems, forced. Carr doesnt rate that type of move.

Shout out to Happy Feller though.


That’s fair. Guess to me it just seems a bit too “on the nose,” almost like it was deliberate. I know he wasn’t a legend or anything, but still, the guy was essentially the face of the franchise for quite some time.

The Feller example doesn’t apply here because he wasn’t an almost decade long starter for the Saints and Brees wasn’t his immediate successor the very next year.

O’Connell gets it. Right or wrong, at a minimal, it’s an oddity.