It’s been a week of change for Micah Parsons. On Thursday, the Dallas Cowboys most feared defender was traded to the Green Bay Packers, which came along with a massive new contract. And on Friday, the All-Pro edge rusher said that he’ll be donning the No. 1 jersey, the first time that number has been worn by a Packers player since 1926.
Parsons announced the jersey number change during his introductory press conference Friday night, marking a change for the stellar defender who wore No. 11 with the Cowboys and in his college days at Penn State. But No. 11 is currently occupied by Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed.
Ironically enough, Reed requested to wear the No. 1 jersey when Green Bay selected him in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, but was denied when he requested to wear it, as he was told, “it wasn’t available.”
In fact, no Packers player has worn the No. 1 jersey since 1926, and there’s only been one player to don that number: team founder, former player and coach for the Packers, Curly Lambeau. When the Packers were founded in 1919 by Lambeau and George Calhoun, Lambeau wore the number while playing 10 years for the team. He earned All-Pro honors three times during his 10-year career, won an NFL championship with the Packers in his final year where he served as a player-coach, and following his retirement proceeded to lead Green Bay to five more titles.
Though the No. 1 jersey isn’t formally retired by the Packers, the fact that no one has worn the jersey in nearly 100 years signals that Green Bay isn’t just going to give the revered number to just anyone. So Parsons’ declaration that he’s chosen to wear the No. 1 jersey with the Packers indicates that Green Bay sees Parsons as worthy of such an honor. After all, if it weren’t for Lambeau there would be no Green Bay Packers, and while they’ve honored him in plenty of other ways, like naming the Packers’ home stadium after him, it’s clear that the No. 1 jersey is now back in play.
Parsons posed the question to fans on social media about which jersey number he should wear, deciding between No. 0 and No. 1, and after announcing it Friday night, all expectations are that we’ll get to see Parsons wear that new number at 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday when the Packers host the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field in game that can be seen on CBS.