When you retire numbers you lose that. Like with Stetson wearing 13 you can bet he called Kurt and got his ok on wearing the number. And maybe down the road he'll get a chance to start when Stafford hangs them up, or if he misses time, and we'll see if he can be the next unsung hero wearing lucky number 13.
But also there are only so many numbers. So when you retire them and if you're not very careful you're gonna run out at some point, especially if you give in to that decay effect where you lower standards of what constitutes a player of that caliber.
So if I was the owner I would "hang" number banners for the greats of years past in the rafters of SoFi. But all numbers would be available for wear by players, and when a young player elects to wear that great player's number I'd send the great player some tickets on the 50 yard line for big games in that year or something similar. Involve the old and young, tie it together with the legacy storyline. These things are good for all involved.
