Aaron Rodgers sported No. 12 during his 18, often magical, NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers. But, did you know that he never intended to choose this number when he first got drafted in 2005? 19 years later, when Rodgers moved to the New York Jets in 2023, he returned to No. 8, but this time by choice.

The 4x NFL MVP played for the California Golden Bears in college and wore 8, before becoming an NFL first-round pick. On the Cameron Hanes Keep Hammering podcast, when the conversation drifted toward why Aaron’s not the #12 anymore, Aaron Rodgers revealed, “I wore 8 in college.”

A few years later, Green Bay selected him with the No. 24 overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft and made him the full-time starting quarterback in 2008. This was right after the Packers traded Brett Favre to the Jets. He elaborated, “I actually wore 12 in high school and then… I wore four in honor of Brett. I was a big Brett fan…”

Rodgers also explained how he wanted to stick to the #12 jersey number in college, but the team retired that in memory of a former player. He said, “Then I went to Cal and wanted to go back to 12. But 12 was retired there was a man named Joe Roth who had passed away from cancer,  shortly after playing at Cal and they retired his number so I went to eight.”

When Aaron Rodgers had to pick his number with the Packers, veteran kicker Ryan Longwell wore No. 8 at the time and it was his final season in Green Bay. However, Longwell was willing to part with the jersey for a price. That’s when the QB said, “He offered to sell it to me for like some five-figure sum and I was like no I’m just going to go back to 12. So we’re 12 like I did in high school.” Rodgers understandably couldn’t pay that sum since he wasn’t the $200 million wealthy star player he is now.

The future Hall of Famer wasted no time making an impression as a Pro Bowler, in his second season as a starter and Super Bowl champion in his third. He went 147-75-1 as a starter, led the league in touchdown passes twice, threw for more than 4,000 yards 10 times, and led the team to the playoffs 11 times. Rodgers finished his time with the Packers with a resume that included that Lombardi Trophy, four NFL MVPs, a Super Bowl MVP, 10 Pro Bowl nods, and four First-Team All-Pro selections.

Aaron Rodgers will forever be Green Bay Packers royalty, even after the team traded him to the New York Jets in 2023. Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said in the team’s announcement about the trade, “We wish Aaron well in New York and look forward to welcoming him back to Green Bay to retire his No. 12, celebrate his induction into the Packers Hall of Fame and unveil his name on the Lambeau Field Façade.” 

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When the four-time league MVP moved to the Jets, he returned to his California Golden Bears No.8, which was Joe Namath’s jersey number.

12 in New York is Joe Namath

In New York, the number 12 holds a special place. Joe Namath wore Jersey No. 12 from his Jets rookie season of 1965 through 1968 and Super Bowl III and up to his last season in green and white in 1976. The Hall of Fame quarterback led the Jets to their only Super Bowl title. The Jets retired the number in 1985, the same year Namath was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But in an interview last year, Joe said that he would approve of the team unretiring it if Rodgers wanted to wear it. Despite this generous offer, Rodgers respectfully declined it and said, “I give him uh a ton of uh respect for that, but with all that respect to me 12 in New York is Joe Namath…I grew up watching old VHS tapes of Super Bowl highlights and so I knew about Joe Namath.” When he got the chance to take his jersey number, he felt that the number 12 in the Jets belonged to him. So, instead of 12, he went with the #8 jersey number.

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Joe Namath was ‘touched’ that Aaron Rodgers decided not to wear No. 12 with the Jets. He said with the New York Post, “That shows something about the man… He has a way about him, a lot of respect for the past. I was humbly grateful, you know what I mean? It felt good. It made me like (Rodgers) even more.”

So, Namath’s number 12 remains in retirement, untouched and preserved, a testament to his legacy in a franchise.

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