Malik Nabers to wear No. 1 after Giants retire Hall of Famer Ray Flaherty’s number

Malik Nabers will wear number 1 for the New York Giants, despite the fact that the number has been retired in the NFL longer than other jersey numbers.

The Giants announced Wednesday that Nabers had received permission from the family of Hall of Famer Ray Flaherty to wear a number that had not been used since 1935, the first number retired by a team in professional football history.

Nabers previously wore number 9 during training camp and pre-season, but that number is also used by veteran kicker Graham Gano.

When you see a player push for a number that isn’t available, it’s usually a case of the player having worn it for their entire lift or having a special connection to the number. That’s not the case with Nabers, however, as he wore No. 8 in his college career at LSU and No. 13 in high school.

Neither number was available to Nabers with the Giants, as his quarterback Daniel Jones wears No. 8, while fellow wideout Jalin Hayatt wears No. 13. The only numbers below 20 not yet used or retired by the Giants are No. 12 and No. 18.

Apparently that was no longer the case, as numbers were no longer in fashion for wide receivers in the 80s.

Flaherty family did not immediately approve Malik Nabers’ number change

Nabers told the Giants’ website that after seeing his limited options, he didn’t want to pay a teammate for a number. So he approached Giants owner John Mara about a retired number:

Mara was initially said to be against the idea, but eventually decided to approach the Flaherty family.

According to Flaherty’s son, Ray Flaherty Jr., it took a while for the whole family to get involved:

Flaherty played for the Giants from 1929 to 1935, winning the NFL Championship Game in 1934. According to Giants lore, it was his idea for the team to wear sneakers after a night of icy conditions, because the traction helped them win what would later become known as the “Sneakers Game.”

He died in 1994 at the age of 90.

This isn’t the first time the Giants have reinstated a number. Hall of Famer YA Tittle was allowed to wear number 14 after being traded to New York, despite the number having been reinstated for Ward Cuff in 1946.

The hype surrounding Malik Nabers continues to grow

The Giants selected Nabers out of LSU with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and have only seen the hype surrounding him increase in recent months.

Along with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Rome Odunze, Nabers was considered one of the best wide receiver prospects to enter the draft in recent memory. He was a unanimous All-American with 1,569 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns his junior year, then impressed at the scouting combine with a 4.35 second 40-yard dash.

Giants reporters were very positive about Nabers’ performance during training camp, and he appeared to be a rising star in the pre-season as well.

With Jones still at quarterback for the Giants, it’s tough to say whether the team can make the leap forward in offense they need to become a serious contender. But no one can say they haven’t given the passer a weapon.