Bob Romanski, the Raiders’ longtime equipment manager, had more than an inkling Jeanty would approach him when he made his first post-draft visit to the facility. After all, Jeanty made his mark wearing the number as a Heisman Trophy finalist at Boise State and his nickname of “Deuce” was well known.
So when Jeanty, the day after being the sixth pick in the draft, asked Romanski about No. 2, Romanski was quick with the reply.
“Your best bet,” Romanski said, “is to talk to Daniel.”
Romanski also had to do background work with the NFL to check if a player giving up a number already had “a large number of jerseys” in the marketplace. If so, said player giving up the number would have to “buy out” the outstanding jerseys.
“It happened a few years back with a former player when 100,000 jerseys were out there,” Romanski said.
Carlson, though, was in the clear.
“I just introduce them and let them figure it out,” Romanski added. “And when Daniel says it’s a go, it’s a go.”
First, a serious game of phone tag.
Because after getting Carlson’s contact info from Romanski, Jeanty made the call to a waiting Carlson. The two texted back and forth for a week as they discussed potential terms for the swap.
“My big thing was, I didn’t want to draw this out,” Carlson said. “If you want the number, that’s fine. We can figure out what makes sense, what’s fair.
“Hey, man, he’s our first-round draft pick. We’re really hoping he’s going to be a great player, I’ve heard he’s a great person.”
Tales of bartering among and buying numbers from new teammates across the league border from the ridiculous to the sublime.
“Yeah, a lot of bad stories out there,” Carlson said. “Guys being like, ‘I want the number. I should have the number. I’m big-dogging you.’
Definitely not like when Clinton Portis and Ifeanyi Ohalete went to court over the $40,000 Portis promised him for No. 26 with Washington in 2004, or the all-expenses-paid family trip to Florida Eli Manning gave Giants punter Jeff Feagles for No. 10 that same year.
Or the $50,000 Darrelle Revis paid Mark Barron for No. 24 with the Buccaneers in 2013.
Not even kinda sorta like the metallic blue BMW 325i Deion Sanders handed over to Alundis Brice for No. 21 with the Cowboys in 1995.
Plus, this was not Carlson’s first number-swap rodeo.
He wore No. 8 his first two years with the Raiders, in 2018 and 2019, but when Marcus Mariota joined the team in 2020, the incoming-yet-already-established quarterback wanted the number. And after the switch – that’s when Carlson went to No. 2 – Carlson’s career truly took off.
He was second-team All Pro in 2021, when he made a league-best 40-of-43 field-goal attempts, including the 47-yard walkoff number against the Chargers that clinched a playoff berth for the Raiders and knocked their rivals out of the postseason chase.
A year later, Carlson was first-team All-Pro after making 34-of-37 field goals, including 11-of-13 from 50 yards or longer, and a career-best 57-yarder.
“Yeah, I had some good years in it, some good memories, so any time you change a number it’s tough,” said Carlson, who led the NFL in scoring with 144 points in 2020 and 150 points in 2021.
“But, it wasn’t like there was some super sentimental reason. I was 35 in high school and 38 in college. That was part of the conversation, ‘Tell me why you want it.'”
Jeanty obviously convinced Carlson.