Flash 80: The Case to Retire #80 From All of the NFL

June 26, 2010   ·   Patrick Goulding II   ·   Jump to comments

The San Francisco 49ers are set to retire number 80 this fall, to no one's surprise thus ensuring that Jerry Rice will be the last 49er ever to don that number (except for Isaac Bruce in training camp). However, with the way that Jerry's career epitomized the wide receiver position, I am left to wonder whether a larger honor is warranted.
Yes, Jerry will also be immortalized in Canton this August, in what fellow FC Joseph Burkey aptly called perhaps the most deserving induction the Pro Football Hall of Fame has ever seen. A fitting honor, but is it enough?

Should the whole of the NFL retire number 80 from use in honor of the great Jerry Rice?

The NFL (and AFL prior to the merger) has never honored a player league-wide in such a fashion, and precedents are few. Major League Baseball retired 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson in 1997. Granted, that was very much after the fact and was a posthumous honor for Robinson himself. Not to mention the fact that, while Robinson...

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