INDIANAPOLIS -- Receiver Keenan Allen has spent the entirety of his 13-year NFL career wearing a No. 13 jersey. Now, for the first time, that will change.
Allen, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, will stick with the initial No. 10 jersey he donned when signing with the Indianapolis Colts last week. Allen relented and is now comfortable with teammate Laquon Treadwell keeping the number, Treadwell said Wednesday.
The two players had been discussing the possibility of Allen taking the number, but Treadwell -- who was on the roster bubble and made the team over the weekend -- expressed that the number had become meaningful to him and he wished to keep it.
"Me and Keenan spoke probably three times already and he was just, like, he's not really worried about it," Treadwell said. "Like I told him, I said, 'I respect the game. I know what you did in the number.' And my family did a lot of praying about it as well. And, so, he was cool with me keeping the number."
Treadwell, 31, was hardly a lock to make the Colts' final roster. He hasn't made an opening-day roster since 2018 with the Vikings, who drafted him in the first round in 2016 out of Ole Miss. Since then, it's been an endless series of short stints on 53-man rosters and practice squads for Treadwell.
Had he been cut this time around, Allen would have had the freedom to grab No. 13. But Treadwell, by excelling on special teams and proving he can provide solid depth at receiver, emerged during training camp and made the roster.
"It was a huge accomplishment for me," he said. "... I don't take it for granted."
No. 13 is the third different number Treadwell has worn with the Colts since joining their offseason roster and, later, their practice squad, in 2024.
"I've been switching numbers a lot," Treadwell said. "So, last year I really grew to like 13. I was playing well in it. Just everything about my family, we just fell in love with the number and just seeing me out there making plays and having a great camp in it. So, I just didn't want to stop the momentum."
Allen, signed late last month, has 1,055 career receptions, second only to Travis Kelce among active players. He was arrested on drunken driving charges Sunday morning in Indianapolis but will play in the Colts' season opener, according to general manager Chris Ballard.
