METAIRIE, La. -- New Orleans Saints veterans Mark Ingram II and Andy Dalton have completed a jersey swap that can only be described as a win-win.
Dalton, who signed with the Saints this offseason, will get the No. 14 that he has worn throughout his career as a quarterback with TCU, the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears.
Ingram, meanwhile, gets to wear a more slimming No. 5 jersey.
Last season, Ingram hilariously tried to explain his angst over the unappealing jersey number choices he had when he returned to New Orleans in a midseason trade.
Jersey Number update: @andydalton14 is back to his old number 1️⃣4️⃣@markingramII will be 5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/xXvQF9rtNJ
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) July 25, 2022
Not only was his former No. 22 not an option, but nothing in the 20s or single digits was available either. So Ingram very reluctantly decided to go with 14 "because it seemed the best of the worst."
Ingram said he didn't like numbers in the 30s because "it's too big of a number for me."
"I don't want no 30s," Ingram said. "It's just too wide. I'm short, stocky. I gotta have a number that fits me a little bit."
"Unless something changes I am going to rock No. 14"
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 29, 2021
Ingram tells the story of his new jersey number (for now) #Saints pic.twitter.com/wOi8Wf3bDe
The 40s were even worse, in Ingram's sartorial opinion. Ingram said he considered asking kicker Wil Lutz if he could wear his No. 3 while Lutz was on injured reserve last year. He even considered reaching out to former Saints quarterback Archie Manning about wearing No. 8 in his honor (both Manning's 8 and Drew Brees' 9 aren't officially retired, but they never get assigned to new players).
Coincidentally, the No. 5 that Ingram has now landed in is the same one that former Saints running back Reggie Bush was unable to acquire as a rookie in 2006 before the NFL allowed running backs to wear single digits.
