Timmy Jernigan wants to be ‘bigger person’ in Sapp number flap

Timmy Jernigan is sticking with No. 97. And we can’t say we blame him one bit.

The third-year Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle told reporters a couple of weeks ago that with Chris Canty no longer with the Ravens, he would be changing his jersey number to Canty’s old number, 99, to honor his childhood football idol, Warren Sapp. Jernigan loved the way Sapp played, and tried to model his game after the former Buccaneers’ lineman.

But Jernigan apparently had no idea that Sapp is, well, a sap. Instead of being honored that a young player wanted to pay homage to him, Sapp protested, tweeting at the Ravens when they announced the bit of news and asking if he could put a stop to the change.

Why would a known bad dude, who has had nothing good written about him over the last 18 months or so, give pushback to having a positive story about him? Because Warren Sapp.

According to Sapp, Jernigan didn’t pay him proper deference, not asking his permission to wear No. 99 or taking Sapp up on his offer a couple years ago to work out with Jernigan and added some borderline incoherent line about being just the fifth first-ballot defensive tackle in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which we guess is implying that since Jernigan isn’t a Hall of Famer he can’t wear No. 99.

Or something.

Anyway, Sapp’s reaction took Jernigan by surprise, and he said this week he will keep wearing 97, as he’s done since he was drafted in 2014.

“I’m going to be the bigger person,” Jernigan said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. “He says what he wants to. He can feel what he wants to. At the end of the day, it’s all good. All I’m worried about is winning football games here in Baltimore.”

“Every now and then, you come across those type of people in life,” Jernigan added. “I just can’t worry about that. I’m not worried about that guy. I’m not changing my number. And if you don’t want it to be about him, it doesn’t have to. At the end of the day, it’s just a number.”