Chris Simms Reveals How Family Vote Went Down Regarding Dad Phil's Jersey Number

Retired New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms was indeed ready to give his blessing to Abdul Carter, the team’s first-round draft pick who wore No. 11 at Penn State, to wear it with the Giants.

However, Simms, who, in an interview with FanDuel TV said it didn't matter to him if Carter wore his retired jersey number, soon found out that the issue mattered most to his daughter and his wife, who convinced him to veto the request.

So says Chris Simms, now an analyst for NBC Sports. During Monday’s edition of Pro Football Talk Live, Simms offered some details behind the family's discussion and thought process.

Chris revealed that his father initially received phone calls from Drew Rosenhaus, Carter’s agent, and Giants general manager Joe Schoen about the jersey number, and that he was again open to letting the former Penn State star have it.

But Chris suggested to his father that he check with Lawrence Taylor, who declined Carter’s request to wear his retired number 56 and advised the young pass rusher to make a legacy in his own number, just so that it wouldn’t look as though Simms, by allowing his number to be given away, wasn’t showing up Taylor.

Chris added that he was okay with his father giving his number to Carter, but the biggest pushback came from his mother and his sister.

“My sister calls–she's at my parents' house. And she's like, ‘Christopher, what do you think dad should do?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, well, I talked to dad. I thought, you know, it'd be cool if Abdul Carter (wore the number),” Chris told co-host Mike Florio.

That answer did not sit well with his sister, whom Chris said became upset with him and hung up the phone after questioning why he wasn’t taking her side.

“So that's when I knew, ‘Oh, mom and sister have gotten involved,’” Chris said. “And mom and sister have one more vote than me and my brother (Matt).”

Chris added that although his father insisted that he was fine with giving up the number, his wife and daughter weren’t changing their stance of keeping it retired.

“And then on top of that,” Chris added, “I think the blowback off of that and then the amount of people that came to my dad were, ‘Don't give your number up, don't do that.’ I think he was a little taken aback by that, and ultimately, yeah, he's not going to do it. He did get outvoted by his family, specifically by his daughter and his wife.”

The Giants have not yet announced the jersey number assignments for their rookie class, those assignments, some of which might be temporary since players often switch numbers at the end of training camp when other digits become available.

Even though Carter won't be getting No. 11, Chris Simms said his entire family is still rooting for the third overall pick in this year's draft to succeed with the Giants.

“Even though he won't be wearing number 11, he can be an honorary member of the Simms family or the number 11 club if he wants to be,” Chris said.

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