Finally, we have the most mid-May story of all mid-May NFL stories: jersey number drama.
The spiritual cousin of the NFL schedule release is the rookie jersey. Both are extremely stupid wastes of time that have been remixed into EPIC content that must be aggregated for those sweet, ripening early-summer page views. You only get one chance at a first look! Gotta make it count.
RELATED: Raiders' Brock Bowers buried among 'under 25 elite' despite being NFL's best TE
Take Ashton Jeanty. His new number is 2, and that's interesting! It's something that's definitely worth talking about, which explains why Kay Adams had so many questions about it during her latest interview with the Raiders' new running back. Most of the conversation will flow in one ear and out the other, but a fun little moment pops up midway through the convo that will probably make you feel very bleak about your current job. It certainly made me feel bleak about mine.
Ashton Jeanty paid a TON of money to wear #2 with the Raiders
"I didn't get this for free," Jeanty said. "I had to drop a little bag. I can't put [the number] out ... I called and was like, 'I'm trying to get that #2. I'm willing to negotiate." I gave him what I was thinking first, he came back. And I was like, I got to do it. I had to drop a little bag for that #2. You could probably buy a house, a nice-sized house. Actually, I'm not going to say a house. I'm going to say a car. A nice Mercedes ... the good thing, as well, is that some of the money is going to be given to charity."
First of all, I'm glad Jeanty correct himself about the house thing, because if he actually paid a full mortage for a jersey number, the Raiders need to immediately get him back in those rookie accounting classes every NFL team hosts. Even paying a Mercedes-type sum for a number is wild to think about, though that's probably way more in line with normal jersey-number-buying market prices. I just really cannot stress how much I sincerely hope Ashton Jeanty did not pay six figures for a jersey number.
But it's nice to know it's going to charity! If that's the case, the six-figure sum is more acceptable. So think about that next time you get mad that your Ashton Jeanty replica Raiders jersey is $79.99. You'll never pay as much as Jeanty did.