Browns jersey numbers don’t always add up

of moms numbersORLANDO, FL - SEPTEMBER 01: Alabama offensive lineman Jedrick Wills Jr. (74) and Alabama offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher (71) during the first half of the Camping World Kickoff game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Louisville Cardinals on September 01, 2018, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL. Alabama defeated Louisville 51-14. (Photo by Roy K. Miller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Posted By: County Sports Network April 30, 2020

Browns’ jersey numbers don’t always add up

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By STEVE KING

What’s in a number, anyway?

Apparently a lot – a whole lot — as it turns out, especially as it pertains to jersey numbers on a football team.

Related: How to get a Jedrick Wills Jr. jersey (Browns Daily Dose)

It was time the other day for the Browns’ first-round choice in the NFL Draft, left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr., to select his jersey number.

First he wanted No. 74, the same number he had at Alabama. He couldn’t get it because his new teammate and fellow offensive tackle Chris Hubbard, had it.

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Ugh.

Double-ugh.

That Hubbard, whose place on this team is still a big mystery to me after the way he played – or didn’t — last season, can have right of first refusal on anything – anything! – stops just short of being criminal.

But I digress.

Then, after getting future Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas to sign off on it (are you listening, Chris Hubbard), Wills requested No. 73, but he was stonewalled by head coach Kevin Stefanski.

“Uh, no,” the coach said. It’s disrespectful.

Point well taken.

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Next, Wills thought about No. 72, which was worn by 1970s defensive tackle Jerry Sherk, who would be in the HOF, too, if he hadn’t gotten hurt. He decided against it, not for the sake of Sherk since he has probably never heard of the best true defensive tackle the Browns have ever had, but just because he didn’t like it.

Finally, Wills settled on No. 71, which was worn by Sherk’s running mate at defensive tackle for seven seasons, Walter Johnson.

So, No. 71 it is.

Perhaps, a decade or so from now, after Wills has distinguished himself as a great player, the Browns will draft some young buck lineman and he’ll want No. 71. If so, should Wills give it to him? He – and the Browns head coach then – will have to figure it out.

Browns Jersey numbers are indeed a big deal – not just to the players or head coach, but also to the fans, those who buy the jerseys, the people working in the team shops where those jerseys are available, and the equipment people, such as nice-guy Brad Melland, who will be entering his 16th season as Browns equipment manager, and assistant manager Jim McLaughlin, a native of tiny Newton Falls, Ohio.

I love Joe Thomas. He’s a great guy – the best, really. But, to be honest, I am puzzled why Stefanski put the kabash on giving Wills No. 73 in honor of Thomas, who is not in the HOF yet, when at the same time no one in the organization has ever been reluctant to hand out the jersey numbers of players who are already enshrined in Canton, such as Hubbard’s No. 74 (Mike McCormack), No. 42 (Paul Warfield), No. 82 (Ozzie Newsome), No. 86 (Dante Lavelli), No. 49 (Bobby Mitchell), No. 44 (Leroy Kelly), No. 52 (Frank Gatski), No. 80 (Len Ford), No. 60 (Bill Willis), No. 36 (Marion Motley), No. 64 (Joe DeLamielleure) and No. 66 (Gene Hickerson).

Whew.

And I haven’t even mentioned the No. 88 that was won by former Browns wide receiver Mac Speedie, who will be inducted into the Hall later this year.

Hmmm.

Hmmm. Hmmm.

Am I missing something here?

Again, it’s just like the Browns putting Clay Matthews on their Ring of Honor at FirstEnergy Stadium when he is the only one who is not in the HOF. If you make an exception for one, then you have to make exceptions for everyone. Why not Bernie Kosar? Hanford Dixon? Bob Gain? Gary Collins? Dick Schafrath? Webster Slaughter? Sherk?

And so on and so forth.

That the disregard – and, let’s be honest, disrespect — of those aforementioned Hall of Famers and their jersey numbers continues to happen, at the behest of people in the Browns organization who wouldn’t know Len Ford from Henry Ford, is troubling, and disappointing, to say the least.

Let’s establish some pecking orders for great former Browns players that actually makes sense.

With that, then, it’s time to begin carving on a large scale.

Stay tuned.

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