*CRAZY* Giants UN-RETIRE #1 Jersey for WR Malik Nabers

so uh you're a rookie you haven't played any games yet and you think it's a good idea to wear the jersey number of a player whose number has been retired by the team um it's so bold strategy cotton let's see if it pays off for him welcome everybody to jj9 news where we talk all things NFL all the time I'm jarro and I representing the 904 from the 602 and today we are talking about this team behind me right here the New York football Giants and their first round pick out of LSU wide receiver Malik neighbors because the Giants have been very impressed with him so far in training camp in the preseason and he is wide receiver number one on the dep chart however he's not just wide receiver one on the depth chart he is literally wide receiver number one because as it turns out Malik neighbors has switched his jersey number to the number one Jersey so he's going to be wearing number one for the 2024 season and presumably beyond that now by itself this is a complete non story we see rookies change their numbers all the time as roster cutdowns are made more space becomes available as fewer players are on the team we go from 90 players where there's a lot of numbers that are being used to 53 where it's not as many numbers being used you have more flexibility you see guys change their numbers what makes this one interesting is the fact that the number one Jersey was previously retired by the Giants for Ray flarity Ray flarity played for the Giants he got his jersey retired in 1935 he was the very first player not just in Giants history but in NFL history for that matter to have his jersey number retired by any team and now nearly 90 years later Malik neighbors is wearing that Jersey now it's always a bit dicey when a rookie goes for a retired number this is not like JJ Watt pyden Manning or Jerry Rice where they join a team after a Hall of Fame career and take the number they had their entire white neighbors has no Collegiate ties to the number one Jersey he worn number eight in college he is not worn number one at the Collegiate level and now he's wearing number one after 90 years that Jersey was retired by the Giants and a St put out by neighbors he said this thank you to the flarity family for allowing me to wear the number one jersey for the New York Giants I understand the responsibility and I will do everything in my power to honor the flarity family and this organization I will wear the number with great pride can't wait for the season to start a very good statement there by neighbors now here's the thing usually we have one of these unretirement Jersey controversies about every five years we saw with JJ W and Marshall Goldberg we saw with pton Manning and Frank shuga Jerry Rice and Steve lent we F our quota for the early 2020s now as a result of this now some are going to view this as a sign of disrespect some are going to view this as a guy having no respect for the older generation that the number should stay retired once the number is retired it should never come out of circulation having said that if there was ever a time ever a time to unretire the number one Jersey unretire any Jersey for that matter and let Malik neighbors wear that number it is now it is absolutely now because no disrespect this was always one of the stupidest Jersey retirements of all time this is not like a Tom Brady 12 or pain Manning 18 this was always one of the dumbest Jersey retirements of all time and this is coming from a historian of the game this is coming from someone that studies the game for a living and studies the past for a living this was always a dumb retirement he is in the Hall of Fame because of his coaching days with Washington in 1937 and 1942 as a rival it had nothing to do with whatsoever how he was as a player the fact that the Giants a long and stored franchise had a number attired for a non Hall of Fame player who didn't die while playing for the team like GB K or Cory Stringer or Pat Tilman and didn't play his whole career there I Joe Morrison in the 60s was always ridiculous especially when you consider the fact not just that Ray FL didn't played for the Giants his entire career but when you consider the fact that he wore a crap ton of jersey numbers throughout his career of the New York Giants why they settle on one he also wore number six and he wore number 17 he wore three defense jersey numbers during his career with the Giants so it's not like he was associated with number one a lot of people might recognize FL for the number 17 jersey or the number six jersey he was named an all pro twice and obviously he was a good player but guess what 20 of guys have done that at that point you might as well retire Homer Jones's number that would more sense of flarity at this point he only made one all pro appearance while wearing the number one Jersey the other one came on he was wearing number 17 retiring number one is like if the Bulls retired Michael Jordan the jersey and by that I mean the 45 Jersey or if the Rams retired Tory Hulk's Jersey and I don't mean 81 I mean 88 remember the few years where Tory Hol wore 88 that would be what this is like on top of that his Giants career did not end well he wanted to be released from the Giants after the 1935 season so he could coach the team back then that was known as the Boston Redskins as in one of New York's biggest Rivals it's like if Josh Allon retired from the bills after the season so he could be the new head coach of the New York Jets so let's get out of the way Jack flarity was a solid player but he only had a few years wearing the number one Jersey he wore a lot of other jersey numbers his entire career he's not in the Hall of Fame because of his playing days and he left on pretty sour terms All Things Considered and it's not as though flarity played a huge part in the Giants win of the title in 1934 you might say okay well maybe he played a part of championship team and it is true he played on that 1934 championship team but guess what in that game he had two catches for 28 yards and no touchdowns he was not the leading receiver on the team he was not leading yards getter on the team he was not even in the top three in terms of getting yards that season he did nothing to help the team out he had eight catches for 76 yards that's it this is not like a Kawhi Leonard situation with the Raptors or anything along those lines so if there was ever a time to unretire a number if there was ever a situation where I have no problem taking the number out of circulation it's with Ray FL because it never made sense why the number was retired in the first place on top of that you have to remember that sometimes un retirements of jersey numbers can actually boost the legacy of some players now obviously there are some guys that'll be remember forever they'll always associate them with their number like Joe Montana with the 49ers Dan Marino with the dolphins Johnny Unitus pden Manning Tom Brady you get the idea there are plenty of guys that they don't need their Jersey never to be unretired for their legacy to improve but there are plenty of guys and plenty of retirements where un retiring the Jersey exposes a younger generation to the older game and two that player and that person take a few years ago when JJ Watt took the number 99 Jersey and got it out of retirement from Marshall Goldberg how many people had set of football historians or Dy hard Cardinals fans knew who Marshall gorberg was before his 99 got unretired for JJ Watt also look at the Broncos when number 18 got unretired Frank tabuka had the number four how many people outside of Bronco fans and football historians knew who he was before his number 18 got unretired for payon man you get the idea Ray flarity has never been talked about in the 21st century as much as he's been talked about in the last 24 hours I can promise you that you had never thought of Ray flarity in your life before this moment right here he probably has not been talked about this much since his death at the age of 90 in 1994 and now because of Malik Neighbors in this announcement people are discovering how important he was to the game how good of a player he was in 1932 remember he was a very good player 193 too he won the Triple Crown he LEL receptions receiving yards and receiving touchdowns and how good of a coach he was that's a win and his family absolutely recognizes this said Hey by Malik neighbors wearing the number one Jersey it means more people know who Ray flarity is and his contributions to the Giants and his contributions to the game and that's a net positive and on top of that the biggest thing of all he got permission Malik neighbors got the permission of Ray fl's family to use the number and you know what I think that's all we mean M neighbors asked can I wear the number one Jersey the FL family said go for it we would love it and that's that if you want to get upset about a player getting permission to use a number of a player that hadn't played in 90 years that didn't even wear that number his entire career with the team that isn't a Hall of Fame player that is dead and that everyone who was memb of seeing him play is dead well that's on you that's really on you at this point because I don't know what more you could do again r fl's jersey number Never Should been retired in the first place it was neighbors got permission from flarity to use the number his family I should say and it is they said yes they said yes and now people know who Ray flarity is compared to the past so I see this as a win I have no problem with Malik neighbors whone Jersey even though retirement jersey numbers can be very much in controversial subject as we saw with Scott Mitchell with the Baltimore Ravens and we saw with waywayne Thomas with Washington when he wanted to the number of Sling and Sammy ball this one I have no problem with I have no problem with this one whatsoever and Malik neighbors by wearing number one Jersey more people know who Ray flarity is and that's a net positive for everyone involved I don't see how anyone loses in this situation I don't know why people would be upset about this one but I have no problem with what Malik neers is doing by wearing that number one Jersey and I have no problem with the Giants taking out of retirement for all the reasons listed before but what are your thoughts some elak neighbors wearing the number one Jersey do you like the move do you not like the move do you think the never should have stay retired do you think should going retire in the first place what are your thoughts on retire numbers in general let me know everything down below in the comments and that is going to do for this episode of J news be sure you like And subscribe helps the channel out a lot and be sure to check my main Channel J G 9 we talk all things NFL history all the time until next time this is jro gar 9 signing off and as always YJ Jags