{"id":632471,"date":"2026-05-09T07:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/632471\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T07:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:30:07","slug":"dont-worry-folks-steelers-rookie-confirms-hell-get-new-number-after-being-handed-crooked-digits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/632471\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Don&#8217;t Worry, Folks:&#8217; Steelers&#8217; Rookie Confirms He&#8217;ll Get &#8216;New Number&#8217; After Being Handed Crooked Digits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 2026 rookie class took the field on Friday as part of rookie minicamp, which stretches over the course of the weekend. In doing so, each rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/05\/steelers-2026-rookie-jersey-numbers-revealed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">got a chance to sport their new number<\/a>, with Kaden Wetjen getting 42. Those digits didn\u2019t impress many Steelers fans at first.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t seem to sit well with Wetjen, either. However, Wetjen plans for a change in the near future. In a lighthearted post to his Instagram on Friday, Wetjen mentioned he\u2019ll look to pick a new number for the actual season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t worry folks, we will have a new number for the szn Fs [for sure],\u201d Wetjen wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kadenwetjen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an Instagram story<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Wetjen\u2019s 42 was most recently assigned to James Pierre, who sported the number for the black and gold last year. However, it\u2019s certainly not rare for these numbers to change, and Wetjen may not be the only Steeler looking to change their digits once the actual season rolls around. Germie Bernard and Drew Allar, currently sporting numbers 17 and 16, might also look to change theirs.<\/p>\n<p>Wetjen did wear number 21 at Iowa, so that could be one on his radar. Chuck Clark most recently wore that number for the Steelers during the 2025 season. He left for Detroit this offseason, but that number is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.steelers.com\/team\/players-roster\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">currently occupied on<\/a> the Steelers roster by Travis Homer, so Wetjen may be out of luck in that regard.<\/p>\n<p>Whichever number he ends up picking, it might feel a little better than 42. As a kick returner who could impact the offense as a receiver, those digits aren\u2019t common for the type of role he\u2019ll be serving. And of course, once rosters start to trim down, more of those numbers will become available.<\/p>\n<p>It should be an interesting rookie year for Wetjen. He\u2019ll fill a big need as a kick returner, a spot the Steelers desperately needed help at. He didn\u2019t get much of a chance offensively at Iowa, but Wetjen was very impressive as a route runner at the Shrine Bowl. He doesn\u2019t seem in store for a large role in that regard just yet, but Pittsburgh could use him in some gadget plays offensively as well.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to most of the Steelers rookie class, Wetjen feels like a lock to make the 53-man roster. But Steelers fans shouldn\u2019t rush to buy his jersey just yet, as Wetjen has his eyes on a different number once the season rolls around.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 2026 rookie class took the field on Friday as part of rookie minicamp, which stretches&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[78256,349,8396,99],"class_list":["post-632471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-kaden-wetjen","tag-nfl","tag-rookie-minicamp","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}