Of course you’ve heard by now that the Cincinnati Bengals gave up the 10th-overall pick in this week’s NFL Draft for New York Giants former stud defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. I say former because, well, listen to the reaction from Giants fans and New York sports radio hosts. They are floored that the Giants got a top-ten draft pick for a guy that was overweight and lazy last season.
Regardless, Lawrence is now a Bengal and apparently he would like to continue wearing the No. 97 that he wore for Big Blue. The only problem is that No. 97 is currently worn by last year’s first-round draft pick, Shemar Stewart.
It’s not unusual for a new player to covet a current player’s number and Lawrence hinted at that during his introductory press conference in Cincinnati.
“There’s been questions,” Lawrence said Monday morning. “There have been questions. I want to get it. I know Stewart, he had it last year or has it right now, but I’m going to speak to him and see what he wants to do.”
Bengals’ Dexter Lawrence wouldn’t be the first player to pay another for a jersey number
It’s been done in the past. A few examples come to mind immediately.
In 2004, the Washington Redskins acquired Clinton Portis from the Denver Broncos. Portis wanted to wear No. 26, but safety Ifeanyi Ohalete already had it. So, Portis said he’d give him $40,000 to wear the number (beyond stupid use of funds unless there are marketing and income reasons). But regardless, they did it, Ohalete said that Portis stiffed him and then it was eventually settled. So there’s that.
There were also other incidents with the Giants previously that involved one player: Jeff Feagles. The punter gave Eli Manning the number 10 in 2004 for his rookie season in exchange for a family Disney vacation.
Then, when Plaxico Burress became a Giant in 2005, Feagles had another opportunity. He switched to No. 17 when he gave up No. 10 to Eli, but now Plaxico wanted that number. This time, Plaxico was going to pay for work to be done on Feagles’ house (if I remember correctly it was for an outdoor kitchen on his Arizona home).
The only problem? Feagles said Plax never paid up.
“I never got paid for it,” Feagles said. “I asked [Burress] for it. Every time I went to Drew he said, ‘That’s between you and Plax.’ Bottom line, I never got paid. He basically stole my number.”
So, buying jersey numbers can and does happen, but with mixed results. Sometimes, the team doesn’t even ask to take a player’s number (after all, it’s ultimately the team’s decision). In 2004, when Terrell Owens came to the Philadelphia Eagles, he wore No. 81 of course. But, second-year receiver Billy McMullen already had it. According to the story, no one even asked McMullen about it, they just gave it to T.O.
Could that happen with Shemar? Probably not since he was a first-round pick, but we’ll see since his rookie year did not go well.
Shemar Stewart named biggest draft miss by Sports Illustrated
It’s been one year (not even) since the 2025 NFL Draft. Most experts have said historically that you really can’t grade a draft until after three seasons. Which is why I wish instead of day-after draft grades there would really be retrospectives on the draft from three years prior. But, we’re in an age where content is king and if content can be created then so be it.
That said, Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated decided to rank the biggest draft misses from last year. Oh, speaking of Stewart, he was No. 1!
“Everything about Stewart joining the Bengals has gone poorly. After being selected with the No. 17 pick out of Texas A&M, Stewart didn’t sign for months, missing a portion of Cincinnati’s offseason program before showing up to training camp in late July,” Verdarame wrote.
“Stewart, 22, ended up appearing in eight games, amassing only four quarterback hits with a sack while playing 53% of Cincinnati’s defensive snaps. With Trey Hendrickson now moving on to the Ravens in free agency, the Bengals desperately need Stewart to become a force up front.”
We’ll see if that has any impact on whether or not Lawrence gets his No. 97.
Dexter Lawrence Wants No. 97 for the Bengals, but There is a Problem