Kyle Pitts details why he didn't end up giving Kirk Cousins No. 8

For nearly the entirety of his career, Kirk Cousins has worn No. 8. That’s changing in Atlanta.

The new Falcons quarterback is set to wear No. 18 with Atlanta after joining them in free agency this offseason. Cousins briefly wore No. 12 the first two seasons of his NFL career in Washington, but since has has exclusively been No. 8.

That number was – and will continue to be – owned by Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts. The 35-year-old Cousins obviously has the seniority, and there was widespread speculation he might arrange a swap with Pitts. Whenever that happens, the player who is not changing teams technically has to buy out any unsold jerseys with the previous number, which can complicate such switches.

The number to buy out Pitts’ No. 8 jerseys apparently was so high that the tight end told The Midday Show with Andy & Randy they decided it wasn’t worth it.

“Not as much as everybody thinks,” Pitts said when asked how big of a discussion the number issue was for he and Cousins. “It was really a league thing, it really wasn’t up to us. The number was substantially high, so it was not good for either of us financially. It just didn’t – it wasn’t like a do-or-die I wanted 84 and he wanted 8, because he was coming from a different team so there was going to be no penalty for him, and it really wasn’t that serious.

“It was more me wanting “Sr.” on the back of mine. So, I’ll have that next year, that would have been the ticket too, as well. I put the form in this year and I’ll have Sr. on the back next year.”

There’s plenty of lore around sports about guys striking lucrative deals with new teammates over ownership of a number. It appears Pitts and Cousins opted to take the more financially prudent route.