One of the more notable games on the 2026 National Football League schedule this year will take place on November 8. That is when the Washington Commanders are facing the Los Angeles Rams at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.
During the game, the Commanders will retire the number 44 of John Riggins. The Hall of Fame running back from Centralia, Kansas was one of the most explosive running backs in the entire National Football League in the 1980s. While with the Washington Redskins, Riggins led the NFL with 24 rushing touchdowns in 1983, and 14 rushing touchdowns in 1984.
My initial reaction to the announcement over the last week to the news that the Commanders were retiring John Riggins’s number 44 was one of surprise. It was surprising that the Commanders took four decades to retire Riggins’s jersey.
Riggins becomes the seventh player in Washington football history to have his number retired. He is joined by quarterback Sonny Jorgensen of Wilmington, North Carolina (number 9), safety Sean Taylor of Florida City, Florida (number 21), cornerback Darrell Green of Houston, Texas (number 28), quarterback Sammy Baugh of Temple, Texas (number 33), halfback Bobby Mitchell of Hot Springs, Arkansas (number 49), and wide receiver Art Monk of White Plains, New York (number 81).
In nine seasons with the Redskins, Riggins had 7472 rushing yards and 79 rushing touchdowns in 114 games. He also had 121 catches for 928 receiving yards and six touchdown catches.
Riggins’s most masterful performance came on January 30, 1983. Riggins was the Super Bowl MVP as he had 166 rushing yards in a 27-17 Redskins win over the Miami Dolphins.
