Some of the newest New York Giants have some new digits.
Big Blue’s official Twitter account revealed that newly acquired tight end Darren Waller will wear No. 12 in New York. Waller, who joined the Giants on March 14, wore the same number in his rookie season with the 2015 Baltimore Ravens. He wore No. 83 for five seasons with the Las Vegas/Oakland Raiders after that.
The team also announced that linebacker Bobby Okereke will wear No. 58 and receiver Parris Campbell will wear No. 0, a unique digit choice that comes on the heels of a March 28 decision by NFL owners to allow No. 0 jerseys league-wide.
Darren Waller’s new number 👀
Parris Campbell will wear No. 0 🔥
According to NFL.com, the amended rule was proposed by the Philadelphia Eagles in early March and builds on 2021’s shift that lets non-linemen wear Nos. 1-49. College football players have been permitted to wear No. 0 jerseys for two seasons, dating back to 2020.
Other NFL stars are pouncing on their new jersey option, too.
Receiver Calvin Ridley tweeted he’ll wear No. 0 in his first season with the Jaguars. And Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons jokingly announced he could switch soon on Twitter:
Excited to be the first @Jaguars player to wear zero – shout out to @JagsEquip! #ReadyToWork
Giants Owner Mara: No Flex Scheduling for TNF
John Mara is mad and he doesn’t care who knows it.
Giants’ owner came out strongly against an NFL proposal to allow flex schedule changes for Thursday Night Football games, calling the idea “inconsiderate and abusive” for fans.
Watch his response at the league meetings in Phoenix, courtesy of The Athletic’s Charlotte Carroll:
Giants’ John Mara is “adamantly opposed” to TNF flex scheduling proposal
“People have gotten used to going from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night; that doesn’t mean that they like it,” Mara said. “This year, we could be flexed to Monday night, which I think is really inconsiderate to our ticket holders. To flex a game back to Thursday night, to me, is just abusive. I am adamantly opposed to it.”
Other owners followed Mara’s lead. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the proposition was tabled until May, where it will require three-fourths ownership approval to pass.
If it does, teams like the Giants could be playing on short weeks with as little as 14 days notice.
“Providing the best matchups for our fans is what we do,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport in response to Mara’s criticism. “But we look at all the impacts. It’s a very important thing to balance between the in-stadium fans and those who watch on TV.”
New Turf Coming to Giants’ Home Field
MetLife Stadium is trying to banish the turf monster.
Its notoriously rough playing surface will need an upgrade before it hosts the 2026 World Cup, per Paul Schwartz of the NY Post. But Mara is acting on a faster timetable, swapping out synthetic grass for monofilament turf at both the stadium and the Giants’ indoor practice facility.
The owner hopes that turf can be upgraded to pure grass soon.
“I foresee a day, my hope is we can get to a day at some point in the future when we can have a grass field that we’re able to maintain with two different teams and all the other events we have,” he said. “I think we can get there at some point.”
No one would feel better about a turf change than the people playing on it.
According to Schwartz, NFL players routinely cite MetLife Stadium “as one of the worst playing surfaces in the league.”
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Giants Reveal Jersey Numbers for Darren Waller, New Free Agents