The number a player wears on the football field often has some kind of meaning. Some players wear the number of a player they want to emulate, generational talents often wear the same number as their family members, highly-valued and skilled players at times request the number of a former great on the team that selected them, and still others wear a number with a different meaning altogether.
New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo chose to wear No. 44 for his family, as he revealed in a recent interview with Kay Adams.
“Obviously I wanted No. 4, but it’s retired,” Skattebo said on Up & Adams. “My brother wore No. 44 in high school and growing up, and I’ve worn it a couple times in the past, so it’s kind of a family number, a generational thing for me and my family. I wear one four for me and one four for him.”
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Skattebo wore No. 4 at Arizona State, but the Giants retired No. 4 after Tuffy Leemans was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978. Skattebo didn’t ask to wear it, he simply chose a different number that had meaning to him.
Another notable Giants running back, Ahmad Bradshaw, also wore No. 44.
Bradshaw was with the Giants from 2007-2012, and over those six seasons, he carried the ball 921 times for 4,232 yards and 32 touchdowns. He also had 132 receptions for 1,087 yards and three more touchdowns.
Skattebo may not be wearing the No. 4 he wanted, but No. 44 isn’t so bad, either.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants’ Cam Skattebo explains decision to wear No. 44