ATLANTA – Marcus Mariota has already addressed the most immediate issue with his new team: He’ll wear No. 1 for the Atlanta Falcons, not his usual No. 8.
Tight end Kyle Pitts, who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie last season, already had Mariota’s preferred jersey number. The quarterback wasn’t about to ask Pitts to give it up, so he plans to go with the digit he wore when he first started playing football as a kid in Hawaii.
“It’s kind of a full-circle moment for me,” the 28-year-old Mariota said. “When I started playing Pop Warner, the first number I got was ‘1.’ I’m going to go back to that, which is kind of cool.”
Mariota will soon have more pressing matters than the number on his jersey. A former No. 2 overall draft pick, he’s looking to get his career back on track after spending much of the past three years as a backup.
And he has some huge shoes to fill in Atlanta, where Matt Ryan started at quarterback the past 14 seasons.