July 19, 2026, 9:04 a.m. ET
What is No. 29?
In Jeopardy-style, the answer is provided as a question. So in this case, “What is No. 29?” is the answer that most Washington football fans have never heard. Only a few of us old enough will recall that running back John Riggins, when he first came to the Washington Redskins in 1976, did not actually wear jersey No. 44.
There are a few of us still living who recall running back Moses Denson. Denson had been drafted back in the 1972 draft in the eighth round (203 overall) by then head coach and general manager George Allen. Allen loved veteran players, but like any emotional person, he took some things too far. Allen, religiously (yes, religiously), would set out each offseason to trade away some draft choices for a couple of veteran players.
Well, in the 1972 offseason, Allen determined to carry that imbalanced philosophy even over into his draft that year. How did he do this? He determined this kid who had played at Maryland Eastern Shore was going to be a good NFL running back. In Allen’s mind, he was the only one who realized this, and the other general managers were wrong.
However, Denson had already been in the Canadian Football League for the 1970 and 1971 seasons playing for the Montreal Alouettes. Allen drafted him and talked to the Washington media about how good this guy was, and what he was going to do for Washington. But Denson did not join the Redskins until the 1974 season. He played two very uneventful seasons, 1974 and 1975, for the Redskins before Allen was ready to get another physical, veteran running back John Riggins.
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Riggins had been drafted by the Jets in 1971 and provided the No. 44 for his five seasons (1971-1975) in New York. When the 1976 training camp began, Riggins was assigned jersey No. 29. On August 24, as the Redskins trimmed their roster, they released Denson. He was never signed by another team, never played again in the NFL. Allen had been very wrong about Denson.
With Denson gone, jersey No. 44 was again available; Riggo grabbed it quickly, and No. 44 made many plays for the Redskins all the way through the 1985 NFL season, his last. He made more than enough plays in Burgundy and Gold that he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 1992 class.
Incidentally, no Washington football player has worn that No. 44 jersey in an NFL regular season game since John Riggins in the 1985 season. Now, the Commanders will officially retire Riggo’s iconic No. 44 during the 2026 regular season.