With No. 5 Unsettled, Reggie Bush has No. 25 in the Cards
The NFL has not denied Reggie Bush's request to wear No. 5 this upcoming season, but early indications are that the New Orleans Saints draft pick will not get his way.

One thing is for sure, it won't be "in the cards" for Reggie Bush.

The team informed the NFL Players Association on Tuesday that their top draft pick will wear the No. 25 for this weekend's Rookie Premiere photo shoot, according to Pam Adolph, vice president of apparel operations for Players Inc., the union's marketing arm. For years, Players Inc. has been putting on the event so that the card companies can release cards with players in their jerseys before the season starts.

The team allowed Reggie Bush  to wear the No. 5 at its recent minicamp and it was Reggie Bush's marketing agent Mike Ornstein's desire to have his client wear the number at the photo shoot. "Until it has been decided, we are going to go with number 5," Ornstein said before the decision had been made.

Ornstein originally said that Reggie Bush would donate 25 percent of all the royalties he received from jersey sales toward Hurricane Katrina charities if the league granted him the right to wear No. 5. But Ornstein told ESPN.com on Tuesday morning that Reggie Bush has now agreed to make the donation no matter what number he wears.

Almost all the players have their numbers set by the time of the shoot, though it's not unprecedented that a player has worn a different number jersey at the shoot than he did once the season started. In 2004, Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. wore No. 11, but at the end of the preseason, Winslow convinced fullback Aaron Shea to allow him to wear No. 80.

Saints running back Fred McAfee currently wears the No. 25, so it's not exactly clear whether that number will definitely be worn by Reggie Bush. Calls placed to Saints officials were not immediately returned.

Reggie Bush wore No. 5 in high school and at the University of Southern California, but under current NFL rules, running backs are only allowed to wear numbers 20 through 49. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told ESPN.com on Monday that the owners will not be voting specifically on a Reggie Bush exemption. In order for Reggie Bush to be granted No. 5, the numbering rules themselves would have to be changed.

"Truthfully, with Reggie Bush, it's not going to matter what number he wears," Josh Goodstadt, an executive with Players Inc., which oversees the production of more than 32 million packs of NFL player trading cards each year. "He's already so hot in the trading card world and the input we've gathered from our licensees is that the number he wears, in the long run, won't help or hurt the sales of his cards."

With the jersey number still undecided, preorders of Reggie Bush’s jerseys have slowed down a bit, according to Reebok vice president Eddie White.

"Right after the draft, Reggie Bush jerseys were red hot," White said. "Now it's more like lukewarm because there are retailers who are cutting back on their orders due to the uncertainty."

White, who noted that orders for Reggie Bush jerseys and Vince Young jerseys have each surpassed 20,000, said he predicts that, will all change once a number is arrived at.

On Monday, Reggie Bush -- in conjunction with his sponsor Adidas -- contributed $50,000 to the Holy Rosary School, a learning disabilities school in Louisiana that was in danger of closing.

Reggie Bush surprisingly wore Nikes at minicamp despite a multi-million dollar deal with Adidas. Ornstein said Reggie Bush’s Adidas shoes had not yet arrived.

To Read More of This Article, Click Here

More Top Stories for ReggieBushOnline.com

06/14/06 - Reggie Bush Planning Refurbishment for Gormley

06/07/06 - For Saints and Fans, the Reggie Bush Era Is a Sign Of Hope

06/03/06 - Even At Full Speed, Reggie Bush Can't Elude Reggie-Mania

06/02/06 - Saint Reginald - Reggie Bush

March
•Reggie Bush Vows to Focus on Football

February
•Bush teams with Shaq to host All-Star charity event
•Dog thinks 2 $900 Super Bowl tickets tasty treat
•Boonton man scores big with Super Bowl tickets
•Dog thinks 2 $900 Super Bowl tickets tasty treat

Super Bowl Weekend
•OK!'s Guide to the Super Bowl Parties
•"Hannah" primed to claim Super Bowl weekend
•Paris Hilton, Ludacris party alongside 50 Cent at pre-game Super Bowl concert

January
•Reggie Bush Engaged to Kim Kardashian?

December
•Eagles vs. Saints Preview 12/23/07
•Bush Hoping to Play Against Eagles 12/18/07
•Cardinals 24, Saints 31
•Bush Out For the Year 12/12/07
•Falcons 14, Saints 34 12/10/07
•Falcons vs. Saints Preview 12/10/07
•Buccaneers 27, Saints 23 12/02/07
•Buccaneers vs. Saints Preview 12/02/07


•2007 News
•2006 News
•2005 News