Paying for a jersey number is nothing new. It happens all the time across the NFL and other sports. For some guys, it's a way to get a little extra cash but for others, it's to help buy out the remaining stock of jerseys that have already been printed.
As you could imagine, there weren't a whole lot of folks around the Carolina's rocking a Jimmy Clausen jersey. He had a miserable rookie season completing just 52% of his passes throwing just three touchdowns to nine interceptions. The Panthers finished the 2010 season with a 2-14 record, awarding them the number one overall pick in 2011. With that selection, they took another quarterback - Cam Newton.
When Newton arrived to Carolina, he had to choose a different jersey number because he wasn't willing to pay the high price tag Clausen put on the No. 2 jersey. Newton told the story of their conversation on 2Cool2Blog.
"I didn't even want number one. Man, Jimmy Clausen, we cool now. He was like if you want it, you got to pay for it. I was like, cool, how much? He said a million. I said boy, kiss my a**. A million dollars bro? I said bro people don't make a million dollars in a lifetime let alone I'm going to give you a million dollars just for a f****** number. I thought he was playing. The m*********** comes back and says okay bro, I talked to my people and we'll do it for $750,000. I said oh, oh, you for real?! I hung that phone up. True story. I hung that phone up and I called the equipment manager and told him I'm rocking with number one. I made an oath to myself that that would be the last time Jimmy Clausen will ever be heard of in Carolina."
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