New Orleans Saints’ Quick Change: McKinstry to Wear Former QB’s #4

Well it didn't take long for the New Orleans Saints to make this change. Although it was probably brought on by the player, and not the team.

Literally the same day former Saints starting quarterback Derek Carr was placed on the Reserve/Retired List with the NFL offices, the team reassigned his jersey number. The team made the change for the #4 jersey on their official sites before the ink was dry on Carr's retirement paperwork.

Kool-Aid McKinstry Steps into Prominent #4 Jersey

The recipient of the #4 won't be in the quarterback room, its actually moving to the defensive side of the ball. Defensive Back Kool-Aid McKinstry will be taking on the #4 jersey in 2025.

McKinstry originally wore #34 in the offseason of his rookie year (last summer) before swapping to the #14 jersey. He kept #14 all the way through his rookie season. During his college career at Alabama, McKinstry wore #1, the number he reportedly wore in high school as well.

How NFL Jersey Rules Opened the Door for Kool-Aid to Wear #4

For a long time, NFL rules would have kept defensive backs from wearing single-digit numbers. The league has "number rules" that state what range of numbers players at a particular position can wear. The biggest change to the rules came in 2021, when the league expanded the numbers for most positions.

Before 2021, a DB like Kool-Aid could only wear numbers 20-49, but in 2021 that expanded to 1-49. Then the reinstatement of the #0 jersey in 2023 was granted to multiple positions, including defensive backs, so now they can wear 0-49 on their jersey.

More Than Just a Carr's Number? Timing of Reassignment Raises Questions

The real intriguing part of this story isn't that Kool-Aid McKinstry can wear #4, as much as it is the speed the team reassigned Derek Carr's number.

No one expected the team to retire Carr's #4 into the rafters of the Superdome, but you might have expected a pause on the number. Not for a long time. Like...not even a season. But the fact that it transpired the exact same day that his retirement paperwork was officially filed with the NFL seems like a message is being sent with the move.

That's not an accusation towards Kool-Aid McKinstry either. He doesn't just get to claim a number and its made his. These decisions go through layers at the team level. Which means people signed off on the idea of reassigning the number the same day the paperwork was filed.

Maybe its nothing, but it defiantly feels like something.