Joe Haden tweets he will wear No. 23 for the Steelers in 2018

It’s just a number, right?

Wrong.

For professional athletes, their jersey number can be very important to them. To their performance? No, but to them personally? Absolutely. There is a reason players will pay a lot of money to get a number they desire.

Up until last year, when the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired Joe Haden via free agency, the former Florida Gator had worn nothing but No. 23 since he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. But safety Mike Mitchell owned the 23 for the black-and-gold.

Apparently, Mitchell wasn’t about to sell his number, so Haden had to buy No. 21 from Robert Golden before the start of the regular season.

Fast forward to present time, and with both Golden and Mitchell no longer on the team, Haden is supposedly claiming Mitchell’s vacated number for the upcoming season.

See what he posted on his official Twitter page:

If you previously purchased a No. 21 Haden jersey, you might have a collector’s item on your hands after the switch to No. 23.

Either way, it looks like Joe Haden will be rocking a new, but old, number next season when he takes the field at Heinz Field for the 2018-2019 regular season.