A letter sent earlier this month by an attorney who represents Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels informed LSU that the Tigers aren't allowed to use his name, image and likeness anymore. That's per ESPN. And the reason given to the publication about why? Per a statement from Daniels' spokesperson, via USA TODAY Sports: "The Daniels family is deeply disappointed and feels profoundly disrespected by LSU's decision to give Jayden's number to another player. Jayden and his family had every reason to believe his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy, honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university." The player who got his No. 5? That would be cornerback DJ Pickett, with head coach Lane Kiffin noting earlier this month that Pickett was promised the jersey number (before Kiffin joined LSU) before signing on. And as it's been pointed out: No one has worn the No. 9 that belonged to Joe Burrow -- who won a Heisman and led the Tigers to a national title in 2019 -- since he left for the NFL. We have some questions here. Let's dive in: Did LSU break an unwritten rule with Jayden Daniels' jersey number? This is the first question I had. When a legendary player retires from a sport but BEFORE a jersey number is retired, it's usually common courtesy to not wear that number. Daniels won a Heisman Trophy in 2023, but not a national title like Burrow did, for what that's worth. Another point here: it seemed like Daniels asked for the number to be kept off future players' jerseys and he claims a promise was made. Which brings us to... Did LSU really make a promise to Jayden Daniels about his No. 5 jersey number? This is where I have some confusion. Let's re-read the statement together:
"Jayden and his family had every reason to believe that his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy and would be honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university. ... Jayden made it clear that he did not want his number given to another player, and he believed his wishes would be respected." We don't have an answer from LSU about this. Daniels "had every reason to believe" his number would be "protected."
Is LSU being hypocritical with Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow? Do the Tigers see this as two different cases? One Heisman season ended in a 15-0 record and a national championship. The other was a 10-3 record and no natty. Is this Brian Kelly's mess that Lane Kiffin needs to clean up? From that ESPN story:
Former LSU coach Brian Kelly told ESPN on Wednesday that he believed No. 5 was promised to Pickett during his recruitment, but Kelly chose not to issue it to him because Daniels wasn't on board with Pickett wearing his number. ... "I just wasn't prepared to do it until we got a full commitment from another Heisman Trophy winner," Kelly said. "We didn't want to issue No. 9, so you can't treat one differently from the other."
Kiffin said that No. 5 was "promised to the kid" and "I'm not going to judge something [that was done] when I wasn't here. ... We should honor what he was told." Seems like we need more information here. This article originally appeared on For The Win: 4 Jayden Daniels LSU questions we have about his cease-and-desist letter