3 days until 49ers kickoff: Who wore it best? Who wears it now?

The San Francisco 49ers kick off the 2015 NFL regular season on Monday Night Football, on September 14. That game. means San Francisco is now a mere 3 days away from kicking off its 2015 regular season. In the spirit of that approaching date, I thought I would steal this idea from our Oakland Raiders site.

Who wore it best: P Tommy Thompson (1995-1997)

No, it's not the former governor of Wisconsin. It's the brief NFL punter. He actually only played for three years with the 49ers, and then was never heard from again. It was a tough call as No. 3 has some pretty awful history. Punter Jim Miller (1980-82) equaled Thompson in Career AV, but Thompson edged him by 1.3 yards in average gross per punt. It is truly a memorably awful number.

The excitement in running with this number is that Cody Pickett briefly wore the number. And like a shooting star, he sparkled in the sky for the briefest of time. OK, sparkled might be a little bit of hyperbole. He was a pretty abysmal quarterback, and his career finished with one of the worst QB performances I have ever seen. In 2005, the San Francisco 49ers started Pickett against the Chicago Bears. He was 1 of 13 for 28 yards and an interception. It was actually good enough for a 7.5 QB rating, so that's something!

Nobody wears it now, and it is possible the number should be retired just to avoid bringing down future players.