The No. 5 has been in the news a lot over the past week or so, after it was granted to LSU sophomore cornerback D.J. Pickett, leading to a reaction from former LSU Heisman Trophy winner and current Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. No football player at LSU had worn the No. 5 since Daniels' college career ended in November 2023.
Daniels responded to the decision to give Pickett the No. 5, a decision which will not change, by informing LSU that they may no longer use his name, image, and likeness.
We can confidently report that, despite Joe Gibbs' ties to Washington from his days as the three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Redskins, the issue will not result in Ty Gibbs needing to ditch the 5 from his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, in honor of the team's current QB, moving forward.
'5' issue causes stir for no reason, which is par for the course
Straight-up, this isn't specifically a NASCAR article, but that's kind of the point. That's how ridiculous this has gotten.
In all seriousness, the whole situation has been blown out of proportion and unfortunately goes to show how easy it is for society, even those not even involved in sports, to take a viral news item and use it for nothing more than social media clout and memes, even while ignoring pretty much every single one of the actual facts of the matter. It's all about fitting in with the "cool" of the moment.
Everyone jumps on the bandwagon without knowing what the heck they're actually talking about, and things get taken so far out of context that they no longer have anything to do with the real issue. But that's Reddit, and really all of social media, in a nutshell when it comes to sports.
The cease-and-desist letter was not issued to prevent Pickett from wearing the No. 5 like many have seemingly and conveniently been led to believe. It was not even issued to pressure LSU to reverse the decision.
Daniels' contract with LSU permitted the school to use his name, image, and likeness for 180 days beyond his final college game, meaning that that contract expired more than two years ago (May 2024). He has had no issue with anything NIL-wise that's happened since, even though he was under no legal obligation to accept them effectively profiting off of him for nothing.
He has now merely informed LSU that they can no longer do so. Yes, the fact that Pickett was granted No. 5 was the trigger, and yes, it's a decision he disagreed with (albeit a legal one). But it really boils down to enforcing one side of a two-sided contract that hadn't been properly enforced for more than two years. It's not as if he's suing the school for reusing his number (or at all).
In a vacuum, the letter may come across as entitlement and add to the recurring theme that professional athletes so often do feel "disrespected" and try to garner attention over the absolute dumbest things possible. We're not saying this situation lacks that entirely, and LSU certainly isn't required to never use the No. 5 again. But that's not the real point. The point is that things work both ways in the wonderful world of NIL.
This should have drawn attention to that. Instead, the world now incorrectly thinks Daniels believes that LSU is being sued for giving out his number and that the No. 5 should be deleted from existence.
At its core, the only thing that's happening here is simple. LSU no longer has the right to profit off of Daniels for free, like they've done for more than two years after a legally binding contract expired.
Was the trigger itself questionable? Sure. It does come across as a bit needy and egocentric, or perhaps petty at best. But that's about it. It's not even really a matter of leverage when they should've stopped using his NIL two years ago to begin with. Yet nobody would have even known about that contract without the letter to care enough (or to pretend to care enough) anyway.
It's not nearly as big of a deal as the fans and media are making it out to be (like just about everything else these days, unfortunately).
No matter, though. The need for memes about giving out high-fours and no longer selling tickets in groups of five, among other things, to generate retweets and upvotes clearly trumps the need for any sort of effort to understand what's actually going on. That's the internet in 2026 for you.
It is great to see so many MLB accounts posting about it, though. I guess that justifies our decision to post about it as a motorsports site. On their side, it's good prep for next year's boredom when baseball isn't a thing because far too many of the players and owners are completely stuck-up snobs. But that's a totally different subject.
Of course, baseball fans are always welcome to watch NASCAR, where even Dale Earnhardt's number isn't retired.
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