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Friday morning, the San Francisco 49ers announced 17 undrafted free agent signings. In light of the transactions, there were 17 new numbers to be issued. You can check out all the assigned numbers at 49ers.com.
Earlier today, Matt Barrows discussed Chris Owusu's decision to take on the number 81 as he heads into training camp. Owusu wore the number at Stanford, so it is not surprising that he would want to wear the same number at the NFL level. At the same time, the number has not exactly a pretty history in recent years.
Terrell Owens wore the number through 2003 and put up some monster numbers in that jersey. Of course, his time with the 49ers ended less than amicably. There is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of this, but at the end of the day, the situation did not end well.
Since TO left town, the 81 jersey has had an ignominious history. The jersey has been worn at one time or another by Rashaun Woods, Brandon Williams, Antonio Bryant, Brandon Jones and Braylon Edwards. That is not exactly a fantastic run thus far.
Owusu is arguably a long-shot to make the 53-man roster, with the practice squad looking a bit more likely. Owusu aside, do you believe in any sort of curse on this jersey, or is the run of struggling receivers just a coincidence?