Number 8 and the New York Giants Player Who Wore It Best

The countdown to the start of the New York Giants’ 2025 season is underway, as we’re now eight days away from the opening kickoff against the Washington Commanders. To count down the days until then, we look at the best players to wear the corresponding number for the Giants.

Who Wore No. 8 in at Least One Regular Season Game*

BB Tom Moran (1925), B Tex Grigg (1926), B Doug Wycoff (1927-31), TB-WB-BB-G-FB Red Smith (1928), B Tony Plansky (1928), T-G Babe Parnell (1928), B Tiny Feather (1932-33), G Bob Bellinger (1934-35), FB Walt Nielsen (1940), B Frank Reagan (1941), HB Al Owen (1942), FB-HB Bill Paschal (1943-45), FB-BB Steve Filipowicz (1945), K Ben Agajanian (1954-57), P Jim McCann (1973), QB Mike Busch (1987), P Maury Buford (1988), P Ruben Rodriguez (1999), K Morten Andersen (2001), K Matt Bryant (2002-03), QB Tim Hasselbeck,2005), QB David Carr (2008-12), K Shayne Graham (2010), QB Daniel Jones (2019-24)

*Jersey numbers per Pro Football Reference.

Which Giants Player Wore It Best?

With all apologies to Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen, who sported the jersey number 8 for just one season as a Giant, there is another kicker who pre-dates Andersen and who, even though he didn’t earn Hall of Fame honors, had quite the career.  

Ben Agajanian was the first specialist in pro football history, meaning he was kept on the roster solely for kicking. In contrast, his predecessors not only played multiple positions but also kicked.  

His playing career (1942-64) took him to multiple stops within the National Football League, the American Football League, and the All-America Football Conference before he hung up his cleats to become a kicking consultant for the Dallas Cowboys, whose first-ever head coach was former Giants player/coach–and one-time Giants teammate–Tom Landry.  

During his five years with the Giants, which spanned the 1949 season and the 1954-57 seasons, Agajanian appeared in 58 games, converting 46 out of 84 field goals and 202 out of 206 extra points. 

He was a member of the Giants’ 1956 Championship team, one of two championship teams for which he contributed. 

In that 47-7 trouncing of the Chicago Bears, Agajanian hit two field goals of 17 and 43 yards in the first quarter to help the Giants jump out to a 13-0 lead from which they wouldn’t look back.

He also had four PATs in that game, in sum contributing 13 of the Giants’ points that afternoon.

Agajanian bore many nicknames during his career, including “Bootin’ Ben” and, perhaps more famously, the “Toeless Wonder,” a moniker he got after losing four toes on his kicking (right) foot during an accident at a college job he held at a soft-drink bottling company. 

That accident led Agajanian to use a square-toed kicking shoe to perform his craft. A pair of those shoes was put on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Agajanian, as part of his coaching career, would eventually help groom a future Giants kicker, Brad Daluiso, who kicked for the team from 1993 to 2000. Daluiso remains the Giants franchise’s third-leading scorer (526 points).

Agajanian, who played college ball at New Mexico, passed away at the age of 98 in February 2018. Before his passing, he had been the oldest surviving Giants player.  

Who’s Wearing It Now?