For the second time, Cardinals kicker Jay Feely has agreed to give up his jersey number for the team’s new quarterback.
Feely wrote on Twitter today that he had agreed to give new Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer the jersey No. 3, which Palmer wore for both USC and the Raiders. (Palmer wore No. 9 with the Bengals.) In return, Palmer has agreed to make a donation to the Feely Family Foundation, which Feely established to improve the lives of needy children. Feely suggested that Palmer’s donation might go toward sending a child to college or building new homes in Haiti.
Now Feely will go back to No. 4, his original jersey number with the Cardinals. Feely gave up the No. 4 jersey when the Cardinals traded for quarterback Kevin Kolb, who had previously worn No. 4 with the Eagles and wanted to keep the number in Arizona. Like Palmer, Kolb got Feely to give up the number by making a donation to Feely’s foundation.
That donation to Feely’s foundation may have been the only good thing to come of the Cardinals’ decision to trade for Kevin Kolb. Cardinals fans will have to hope the same won’t some day be said for the Palmer trade.