JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Veteran NFL safety Tashaun Gipson is already hunting for a new number.
Gipson was handed No. 47 — the only jersey available for his position group — when he arrived for training camp practice in Jacksonville on Monday. It looked and felt awkward for the 13th-year pro who spent three previous seasons (2016-18) wearing No. 39 for the Jaguars.
Rookie kicker Cam Little is currently wearing No. 39, but Gipson is holding out hope that Little might want a different number once the roster gets whittled down to 53.
“I’m not used to this and don’t (anyone else) get used to this,” Gipson quipped Tuesday. “I would like to get (39) back, but at this point, if he has ties to it, I think I’m going to have to find another number. But 39 always has a special place in my heart for sure.”
So does Jacksonville, which was the main reason Gipson jumped at the chance to rejoin the franchise despite being suspended for the first six games of the regular season for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancers.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity,” said Gipson, who has acknowledged taking a supplement that contained a banned substance. “I’m grateful that they had enough respect for me as a man, as a player, as a person, to bring me in here and give me an opportunity. Nothing but love for the city, the organization, from the bottom of my heart.
“I’m just going to try to be a resource and try to pick these guys’ brains and kind of go from there.”
Gipson has started 165 games over 12 seasons with Cleveland, Jacksonville, Houston, Chicago and San Francisco. He has 33 interceptions, including at least one in every year since signing with the Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He started 33 games for the 49ers over the past two years, advancing to two NFC championship games and a Super Bowl.
The Jaguars gave him a one-year deal to essentially be a midseason insurance policy, a guy who would become available beginning Week 7 against New England in London. Jacksonville is expected to be without backup Andrew Wingard for at least the first month of the regular season, and fellow safety Darnell Savage is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
So Gipson should get on the field in the preseason and might be a viable option for down the road.
“It’s a veteran player that we’re familiar with, who gives us more depth, gives us an opportunity at safety that right now kind of fills a spot,” coach Doug Pederson said.
Gipson joins a growing list of aging veterans signed by general manager Trent Baalke this year. The Jaguars previously added three starters with at least a decade of experience: center Mitch Morse, defensive lineman Arik Armstead and cornerback Ronald Darby.
In a league in which teams are usually trying to get younger, Jacksonville is headed in the other direction — part of a push to avoid the kind of late-season collapse that knocked the franchise out of the playoff picture a year ago.
“A lot of the things are above the shoulders,” Gipson said. “Some things talent can’t do. I’m a little long in the tooth. I try to spread wisdom as much as I can to these young guys and hopefully it sticks to them. It could just be that extra play that might be a game changer that could get us to where we need to go.”
It remains to be seen what number Gipson will be wearing for what could be his final NFL journey.
“It’ll be something different than 47,” he said. “That’s all I know.”
NOTES: The Jaguars activated Armstead (knee) from the physically unable to perform list. He is expected to practice Wednesday against Tampa Bay.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Newly signed Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson in search of a different number after 2 days of camp
FILE - San Francisco 49ers safety Tashaun Gipson Sr. (31) celebrates during the second half of the NFC Championship NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. The Jacksonville Jaguars signed veteran safety Gipson to a one-year contract Sunday, Aug. 11, reuniting him with the franchise despite a six-game suspension to start the regular season. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
Newly signed Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson in search of a different number after 2 days of camp
NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, making both eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by gambling scandals.
Rose’s permanent ban was lifted eight months after his death and came a day before the Cincinnati Reds will honor baseball’s career hits leader with Pete Rose Night.
Manfred announced Tuesday he was changing the league's policy on permanent ineligibility, saying bans would expire at death. MLB said 17 individuals had their status changed by the decision, including all eight banned members of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox, former Philadelphia Phillies president Williams D. Cox and former New York Giants outfielder Benny Kauff.
Under the Hall of Fame’s current rules, the earliest Rose or Jackson could be inducted would be in 2028.
Rose agreed with then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti to a permanent ban on Aug. 23, 1989, following an investigation commissioned by Major League Baseball concluded Rose repeatedly bet on the Reds as a player and manager of the team from 1985-87, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule.
Rose first applied for reinstatement in September 1997, but Commissioner Bud Selig never ruled on the request. Manfred in 2015 rejected a petition for reinstatement, saying “Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life.”
Rose died Sept. 30 at age 83, and a new petition was filed Jan. 8 by Jeffrey Lenkov, a lawyer who represented Rose. Lenkov and Rose’s daughter Fawn had met with Manfred on Dec. 17.
Rose’s supporters have included U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he intends to pardon Rose posthumously. Manfred discussed Rose with Trump when the pair met in April, but he hasn’t disclosed specifics of their conversation.
In a letter to Lenkov, Manfred wrote, “In my view, a determination must be made regarding how the phrase ‘permanently ineligible’ should be interpreted in light of the purposes and policies behind Rule 21, which are to: (1) protect the game from individuals who pose a risk to the integrity of the sport by prohibiting the participation of such individuals; and (2) create a deterrent effect that reduces the likelihood of future violations by others.
“In my view, once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served.”
Marcus Giamatti, son of the former commissioner who signed the agreement banning Rose, said in a statement he was “incredibly disappointed” in Manfred's decision.
“I am also disappointed that my family was not consulted prior to this decision,” he said. "The Commissioner’s decision makes this a very dark day for baseball, the country and the fans.
"My father’s mission by banning Rose was to uphold the integrity of the game. Therefore, reinstating Rose in this manner puts that integrity, Rule 21 and everything that my father fought to uphold in peril."
A 17-time All-Star during a playing career from 1963-86, Rose holds record for hits (4,256), games (3,562), at-bats (14,053), plate appearances (15,890) and singles (3,215). He was the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, 1973 MVP and 1975 World Series MVP. A three-time NL batting champion, he broke the prior hits record of 4,191 set by Ty Cobb from 1905-28.
Jackson was a .356 career hitter who was among the eight Black Sox banned for throwing the 1919 World Series. He died in 1951, but he remains one of baseball's most recognizable names in part for his depiction by Ray Liotta in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams.
Under a rule adopted by the Hall’s board of directors in 1991, anyone on the permanently ineligible list can’t be considered for election to the Hall. Jackson was twice considered on ballots by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, but received just 0.9% in 1936 and 1% of a nominating vote in 1940.
Rose’s reinstatement occurred too late for him to be considered for the BBWAA ballot. If not on the permanently banned list, Rose would have been eligible on the ballots each from 1992 through 2006. He was written in on 41 votes in 1992 and on 243 of 7,232 ballots (3.4%) over the 15 years, votes that were not counted.
Without the ban, both players are eligible for the Hall’s Classic Baseball Era, which next meets to consider players in December 2027 and considers those whose greatest contributions to the sport were before 1980.
A 10-person historical overview committee selects eight ballot candidates with the approval of the Hall’s board, and the ballot is considered by 16 members at the winter meetings, with a 75% or higher vote needed. The committee members include Hall of Fame members, team executives and media/historians.
Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark confirmed in a statement that players affected by Manfred’s ruling Tuesday would be considered.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,” she said. “Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered.”
Among the players in the 2028 class eligible for the BBWAA ballot are Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.
Trump has said he would pardon Rose, but it’s not clear what a presidential pardon for Rose would entail.
Rose entered guilty pleas on April 20, 1990, to two counts of filing false tax returns, admitting he failed to report $354,968 during a four-year period. Rose was sentenced on July 19, 1990, by U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel in Cincinnati to five months in prison. He also was fined $50,000 and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service as a gym teacher’s assistant with inner-city youths in Cincinnati as part of a one-year probation period. The first three months of the probation were to be spent at the halfway house. Rose repaid the Internal Revenue Service $366,042.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - This undated file photo shows baseball player player Shoeless Joe Jackson. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - Former Cincinnati Reds player and guest Pete Ross acknowledges spectators during a Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame induction ceremony before a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Saturday, July 21, 2018, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - Cincinnati Reds' Pete Rose of the follows through after a long fly-out to the outfield during the first inning of a baseball game agains the New York Mets at New York's Shea Stadium, July 24, 1978. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett, File)
FILE - Former Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is escorted by a Federal Marshal, right, as he arrives at federal court in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 19, 1990. (AP Photo/Mark Lyons, File)
FILE - Pete Rose sits in the Washington Wild Things dugout before a Frontier League baseball game against the Lake Erie Crushers in Washington, Pa., Tuesday, June 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - In this June 24, 2016, file photo, former Cincinnati Red Pete Rose waves to the crowd as he is introduced on the field during a ceremony to honor the 1976 World Series champions team, before the Reds' baseball game against the San Diego Padres in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
