About

Out Of Respect For Jayden Daniels and the Jayden Daniels Number 5 Jersey Controversy, also known simply as the Jayden Daniels 5 Meme, is a viral controversy and series of memes that make fun of NFL player Jayden Daniels after it was reported that he sent a legal threat to Louisiana State University (LSU), the school he used to attend and play football at, for reissuing the number five on DJ Pickett's jersey. Number five was Daniels' number when he played on the Tigers and won the Heisman Trophy.

The story was reported in mid-August 2026 and inspired memes that month. The memes typically include the catchphrase, "Out of respect for Jayden Daniels," as a punchline, and comedically describe a situation in which someone avoids using the number five to respect Jayden Daniels.

Origin

On August 13th, 2026, it was reported in the media that NFL player Jayden Daniels, who currently plays for the Washington Commanders and once played for the LSU Tigers in college, where he won the Heisman Trophy, sent a cease-and-desist letter to LSU for issuing the number five jersey to cornerback DJ Pickett.^[1]

That day, social media users began posting jokes about respecting Jayden Daniels by not using the number five. One of the earliest examples was posted by X^[2] / Twitter user @benlikessport, reading, "Bout to use a $5 bill to pay for a sandwich. Should I ask Jayden Daniels if that’s ok?" The post gained over 37,000 likes in six days.

Spread

On August 13th, 2026, X^[3] user and former football player Ryan Clark made a post defending Daniels, writing that the cease-and-desist wasn't specifically about the jersey, but was about respecting Daniels, gaining over 5,800 likes in six days.

That day, X^[4] user @TheNFLDrop posted a meme about the restaurant chain Five Guys changing their name to respect Daniels, garnering over 55,000 likes in six days.

Also on August 13th, the Instagram^[5] page SportsHumor posted a selection of memes referencing the cease-and-desist, gaining over 16,000 likes in the same span of time.

On August 14th, 2026, the X^[6] page for the New York Mets posted a meme playing into the format to celebrate the team's win, garnering over 119,000 likes in five days.

On August 16th, X^[7] user @daemarrrr posted a dark meme about the shooting of Renee Good that reads, "ICE only shot her 4 times out of respect for Jayden Daniels ✊," gaining over 57,000 likes in three days.

On August 17th, 2026, TikToker^[8] @evil.hooper posted a meme about being unable to plead the Fifth out of respect for Jayden Daniels, gaining over 730,000 views in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References