PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers made waves when they signed quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a one year deal to be the starting quarterback for the team for the 2026 season.
With new teams and new teammates comes controversy in form of the numbers given to specific players, and who holds precedence over who. In Aaron Rodgers case, due to his seniority and legacy, he was ultimately given the choice of which number to use, and will be wearing 8 through the season.
This presents an issue, because punter Corliss Waitman wore the number last season and was expected to continue to wear it moving forward. Therefore, it is quite common for the player inheriting the number to pay the player who has their number.
But, in Rodgers case, Waitman accepted the jersey change for free. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Waitman spoke on why he was comfortable letting his number go.
“You know, it’s funny because (someone) told me, ‘Man, you guys can get a lot of money for (jersey) numbers nowadays,’”Waitman said. “And I’m like, ‘Man, we get a lot of money to play football.’ You know what I mean? People act like I just gave up this great number, but I’m like, ‘I’ve still got a single digit. 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.’"
So, Waitman will now don the No. 3 jersey and will likely compete with Cameron Johnston for the punting duties after Johnston suffered a season-ending injury early on in the 2024 campaign.
Rodgers will continue to wear the No. 8 jersey that he has worn since joining the New York Jets, differing from his original No. 12 jersey from Green Bay.
