Say goodbye to New England Patriots rookies wearing weird jersey numbers heading into training camp.
As the Patriots’ official roster indicates, the team has done away with one of Bill Belichick’s longtime rituals where rookie players had to “earn” their numbers in New England.
Multiple rookies have been assigned jersey numbers on the Patriots’ official roster. Quarterback Drake Maye will wear No. 10, Wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk has No. 1 and offensive tackle Caedan Wallace has taken No. 70.
As confirmed by NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, this marks the end of a Belichick-era policy for rookies, a sign of the changing times under new head coach Jerod Mayo.
Previously, rookie players in Foxborough were assigned temporary numbers upon being drafted or signed after the draft. Those numbers were arbitrarily handed out. The team’s highest draft pick was assigned No. 50, with ensuing players being assigned one number higher.
The tradition led to some strange sights in training camp, like quarterback Mac Jones wearing No. 50 or wide receiver Tyquan Thornton wearing No. 51, numbers typically receivers for linebackers.
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Belichick previously gave out blank jerseys to rookies. That was until a change in NFL rules mandated that all players have some sort of jersey number during offseason activities.
Why did Belichick do it? The message appeared to be that, if rookies wanted a real number, they had to prove that they earned a spot. When asked about the policy directly, Belichick never quite answered the question.
“Really not too worried about all the important stuff like that — numbers and what color gloves you wear and all of that,” Belichick said back in 2018 to ESPN. “That’s not really at the top of the list right now. Trying to learn football, trying to become a team, trying to get better each day — that’s really where our focus is.”
The temporary numbers typically lasted until the Patriots played in their first preseason game. Under the Belichick system, that would have meant at least three more months of wondering whether Maye would actually take No. 10.
This year, there’s no such suspense.
