The New York Giants have made an unprecedented move for rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers.
Nabers has sought a change in jersey number away from the No 9 he has worn throughout the preseason, and the No 8 he wore during his college career at LSU.
The Giants wideout sought to have conversations with backup quarterback Drew Lock, and punter Jamie Gillan, who wear Nos 2 and 6 respectively, but those talks did not pan out in any number switch.
That led New York co-owner John Mara to go to bat for Nabers, dialing up the son of Ray Flaherty, who had his No 1 retired by the Giants in 1935, the first such jersey retirement in NFL history.
Ray Flaherty Jr gave Mara the go-ahead for No 1 to be unretired as long as it goes back into retirement at the end of Nabers’ Giants career.
Malik Nabers will wear the unretired No 1 for his first season with the New York Giants
After finding out the news, Nabers called the Flaherty family to thank them for the gracious decision.
Plenty of expectations have been placed onto Nabers for his rookie season, as he is viewed as one of the catalysts to help save a stagnant Giants offense.
After the departure of Saquon Barkley, and not much help being brought into New York, Nabers will need to have a monster year if the Giants want to contend for an NFC East title.
Now Nabers bears the weight of a jersey number that no Giant has worn for nearly 90 years.
Unretiring a jersey number is a rare feat in sports, but shows the faith the Giants have in Nabers.
On a few occasions, teams have retired a jersey number in honor of two players, most notably the nearby New York Yankees, who retired No 8 in honor of Yogi Berra and William Dickey.
