Quarterback Kirk Cousins is set to don the No. 18 jersey with the Atlanta Falcons, departing from the No. 8 he has worn since his high school days, and there’s a compelling reason behind this change.
Tight end Kyle Pitts was open to relinquishing No. 8 in exchange for more “targets,” but NFL regulations posed a significant obstacle to any potential exchange. Both Cousins and Pitts would have been required to compensate for the already sold Pitts jerseys, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, making such a swap financially impractical.
Cousins elaborated on this situation during a recent appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s “The Big Podcast.” “He wanted to switch numbers anyways, so it was a perfect fit. He was like, I want to switch numbers, you want No. 8, so it was perfect,” Cousins explained. “And then the league spoke on it. It was like, ‘Kyle Pitts has a lot of jerseys that are No. 8 with Pitts on the back. You would have to buy every single one.’ Both of us would have to write the check. It was several hundred thousand. So I was like, I’m good with 18. And Kyle was like, I’m good with 8. So we’re going with 8 and 18.”
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Even with his recent four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta, the expense proved prohibitive for Cousins.
No. 18 marks the third jersey number Cousins will wear in his NFL career, following his stint with No. 12 during his initial two seasons in Washington before transitioning to his customary No. 8 throughout his six-year tenure with the Minnesota Vikings.
