“Lame and Wack”: LSU Legend Rips Jayden Daniels for Sending Cease-And-Desist Letter Over Jersey Controversy

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Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is bouncing back this season after an injury-marred 2025. However, he’s made his offseason more complicated by jumping into a fight with his alma mater, the LSU Tigers. The move immediately drew criticism from ex-LSU player Patrick Peterson.

“Man, I thought it was a little wack and lame to be honest with you, man,” shared Peterson on the September 1 episode of the In the Bayou with Tyrann Mathieu podcast. “It was bad timing for one. You have so many things that you need to worry about, as a professional quarterback, and coming off an injury at that. I feel like that was something that shouldn’t have been thought of. I thought it was a little childish for him to go and say, ‘You can’t use my number.’”

On August 5, Daniels’ representative sent a letter to Tigers athletic director Verge Ausberry. ESPN later obtained a copy and reported that through that cease-and-desist letter, the quarterback informed LSU it can no longer use his name, image, and likeness by allowing sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett to wear No. 5, which Daniels wore during his time here.

Pickett donned No. 3 for LSU as a freshman in 2025, when he was named a Freshman All-American. He finished the season with a team-high three interceptions, 37 tackles, and one sack over 524 defensive snaps. But this year, head coach Lane Kiffin allowed Pickett No. 5 because the cornerback was already promised the number during his recruitment.

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“DJ is in [No.] 5, and that was a situation that was promised to him in recruiting here, for him to sign here,” Kiffin said, per ESPN. “I’ve done a lot of research on that with the family and the representatives and the people, so really I didn’t have a decision to make. It was promised to the kid. It wasn’t done for whatever [reason]. I’m not going to get into that.”

Former head coach Brian Kelly held off on Pickett wearing the number as a freshman. He confirmed to ESPN that there was also the matter of No. 9 (Cincinnati Bengals and 2019 National Championship-winning QB Joe Burrow’s number, which will reportedly not be used again), and he waited to get “full commitment from another Heisman Trophy winner” (Jayden Daniels).

“You can’t treat one differently from the other.”

LSU’s current bylaws permit student-athletes to wear numbers associated with jerseys retired after Jan. 1, 2007, though the head coach ultimately decides whether to allow it. So far, they have retired five jerseys, including Billy Cannon’s No, 20, Tommy Casanova’s No. 37, Jerry Stovall’s No. 21, Charles Alexander’s No. 4 and Bert Jones’ No. 7, to be retired on Nov. 14 this year.

However, retiring jersey numbers is a different case. So far, LSU has retired only Cannon’s No. 20, and nobody is allowed to wear it.

“First of all, they’re not making any money off the number five because there’s no one name on it on the back of the jerseys,” added Peterson. “So, you can still have your JD5, that’s you, but at the end of the day, they’re not retiring jerseys cuz that’s not what they do.”

Jayden Daniels played two seasons at Baton Rouge, tallied 6,725 passing yards and 57 touchdowns to win the Heisman in 2023.

As Daniels drew criticism for taking the controversy too far, the LSU-Clemson clash on September 5 might have left the Washington Commanders quarterback in a sour mood. Pickett, who had already admitted he did not plan on giving up the number, wore No. 5 in the game.

Plus, LSU seems to have made a joke out of their former quarterback, too.

The game was delayed due to bad weather. To keep fans entertained, LSU played a montage of former LSU greats who are currently in the NFL, like Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Justin Jefferson, and others. But there was no Daniels in that clip, a clear answer on where things stand between the quarterback and LSU.

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