Giants QB Phil Simms Reveals His Feelings About Having His Number Unretired for Giants' Top Draft Pick

“I don't know. If they really want it,” he said during a spot on FanDuel TV. “But my wife–I don't know if my family said anything–but my agent, all 'em, ‘Don't you dare give up that jersey number.’” Simms said.

Simms added that Carter has not yet asked him for the number, but said, “If it was up to me, I probably would give it to him.”

Dart, who wore No. 2 in college, might have a better chance of getting that number from the Giants if he can convince ornerback Deonte Banks, who just this past offseason took the number after giving No. 3 to quarterback Russell Wilson.

But if Dart were to have an interest in Simms’s old number, the Super Bowl XXI MVP sounds like he’d have no problem with the idea. 

“I told some of my friends and people around me, I said, ‘Oh, I'd let him have it in a second.’ I said, ‘Can you just help it a little and make it better or whatever?’ I think it would be a lot of fun. That wouldn't bother me,” Simms said.

Taylor, in rejecting Carter's request for No. 56, advised the young man to pick his own number and build his own legacy in whatever number he chose.

“He has to be the player that he is,” Taylor said. “He can’t be another Lawrence Taylor. Well, he may be better than a Lawrence Taylor--who knows? But he has to make his mark. It’s up to him.”

“And I’m hoping that he’s not thinking that, ‘Oh, I got shot down by LT.’ No, it isn’t like that, man. It’s, ‘Hey, I’m with you!’ I mean, I’m the guy that it takes two. I’m going to be two steps behind you and make sure you don’t fall.”

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