List of banned National Football League jersey numbers

Franchises in the National Football League (NFL) block jersey numbers from players who performed well and made a significant contribution to the success of their team or who died prematurely during their careers. As in other leagues, blocked jersey numbers in the NFL are not given to other players by a team unless the player explicitly allows it.

Since the NFL began to block numbers, 149 jersey numbers have officially been discontinued. The Chicago Bears are the team with the most blocked numbers with 14 jersey numbers banned. Reggie White jersey number is banned from two different teams. The Oakland Raiders , Atlanta Falcons and the Dallas Cowboys traditionally do not block jersey numbers. The Baltimore Ravens , Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars have not yet banned any jersey numbers. In contrast to Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL), the NFL has not banned a jersey number across the league . The numbers 0 and 00 were not blocked in order to honor a player, but were banned in the course of the introduction of the position-related jersey number system .

Blocked numbers

In the Pro Football Hall of Fame added

player	number	Position (s)	team	Years with the team
Jim Kelly	12	Quarterback	Buffalo Bills	1986-96
Thurman Thomas	34	Running back	Buffalo Bills	1988-99
Bruce Smith	78	Defensive end	Buffalo Bills	1985-99
Bob Griese	12	Quarterback	Miami Dolphins	1967-80
Dan Marino	13	Quarterback	Miami Dolphins	1983-99
Larry Csonka	39	Fullback	Miami Dolphins	1968-74, 1979
Gino Cappelletti	20th	Wide receiver kicker	New England Patriots	1960-70
Mike Haynes	40	Cornerback	New England Patriots	1976-82
Steve Nelson	57	Linebacker	New England Patriots	1974-87
John Hannah	73	Offensive guard	New England Patriots	1973-85
Bruce Armstrong	78	Offensive tackle	New England Patriots	1987-2000
Jim Lee Hunt	79	Defensive lineman	New England Patriots	1960-70
Bob Dee	89	Defensive lineman	New England Patriots	1960-67
Joe Namath	12	Quarterback	New York Jets	1965-76
Don Maynard	13	Wide receiver	New York Jets	1963-72
Curtis Martin	28	Running back	New York Jets	1998-2005
Joe Klecko	73	Defensive lineman	New York Jets	1977-87
Dennis Byrd	90	Defensive end	New York Jets	1989-92
Bob Johnson	54	center	Cincinnati Bengals	1968-79
Otto Graham	14th	Quarterback	Cleveland Browns	1946-55
Jim Brown	32	Fullback	Cleveland Browns	1957-65
Ernie Davis	45	Halfback	Cleveland Browns	1962
Don Fleming	46	Safety	Cleveland Browns	1960-62
Lou Groza	76	Offensive tackle kicker	Cleveland Browns	1946-59, 1961-67
Ernie Stautner	70	Defensive tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers	1950-63
Joe Greene	75	Defensive tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers	1969-81
Peyton Manning	18th	Quarterback	Indianapolis Colts	1998-2011
Johnny Unitas	19th	Quarterback	Indianapolis Colts	1956-72
Buddy Young	22nd	Halfback	Indianapolis Colts	1953-55
Lenny Moore	24	Halfback	Indianapolis Colts	1956-67
Kind Donovan	70	Defensive tackle	Indianapolis Colts	1950, 1953-61
Jim Parker	77	Offensive lineman	Indianapolis Colts	1957-67
Raymond Berry	82	Wide receiver	Indianapolis Colts	1955-67
Gino Marchetti	89	Defensive end	Indianapolis Colts	1953-66
Warren Moon	1	Quarterback	Tennessee Titans	1984-93
Steve McNair	9	Quarterback	Tennessee Titans	1995-2007
Eddie George	27	Running back	Tennessee Titans	1996-2004
Earl Campbell	34	Running back	Tennessee Titans	1978-84
Jim Norton	43	Safety punter	Tennessee Titans	1960-68
Mike Munchak	63	Offensive guard	Tennessee Titans	1982-93
Elvin Bethea	65	Defensive end	Tennessee Titans	1968-83
Bruce Matthews	74	Offensive tackle	Tennessee Titans	1983-2001
John Elway	7th	Quarterback	Denver Broncos	1983-99
Frank Tripucka	18th	Quarterback	Denver Broncos	1960-63
Floyd Little	44	Running back	Denver Broncos	1967-75
Jan Stenerud	3	Kicker	Kansas City Chiefs	1967-79
Len Dawson	16	Quarterback	Kansas City Chiefs	1962-75
Emmitt Thomas	18th	Cornerback	Kansas City Chiefs	1966-78
Abner Haynes	28	Running back	Kansas City Chiefs	1960-74
Stone Johnson	33	Running back	Kansas City Chiefs	1963
Mack Lee Hill	36	Fullback	Kansas City Chiefs	1964-65
Derrick Thomas	58	Linebacker defensive end	Kansas City Chiefs	1989-99
Willie Lanier	63	Linebacker	Kansas City Chiefs	1967-77
Bobby Bell	78	Linebacker defensive end	Kansas City Chiefs	1963-74
Buck Buchanan	86	Defensive tackle	Kansas City Chiefs	1963-75
Dan Fouts	14th	Quarterback	Los Angeles Chargers	1973-87
Lance Alworth	19th	Wide receiver	Los Angeles Chargers	1962-70
LaDainian Tomlinson	21st	Running back	Los Angeles Chargers	2001-09
Junior Seau	55	Linebacker	Los Angeles Chargers	1990-2002
Ray Flaherty	1	Wide receiver	New York Giants	1928-35
Tuffy Leemans	4th	Running back quarterback	New York Giants	1936-43
Mel Hein	7th	Linebacker Center	New York Giants	1931-45
Phil Simms	11	Quarterback	New York Giants	1979-93
Ward Cuff	14th	Running back	New York Giants	1937-45
YA Tittle	14th	Quarterback	New York Giants	1961-64
Frank Gifford	16	Halfback wide receiver	New York Giants	1952-64
Al Blozis	32	Offensive tackle	New York Giants	1942-44
Joe Morrison	40	Running back wide receiver	New York Giants	1959-72
Charlie Conerly	42	Quarterback	New York Giants	1948-61
Ken Strong	50	Halfback	New York Giants	1936-47
Lawrence Taylor	56	Linebacker	New York Giants	1981-93
Donovan McNabb	5	Quarterback	Philadelphia Eagles	1999-2009
Steve Van Buren	15th	Halfback	Philadelphia Eagles	1944-51
Brian Dawkins	20th	Safety	Philadelphia Eagles	1996-2008
Tom Brookshier	40	Cornerback	Philadelphia Eagles	1953-61
Pete Retzlaff	44	Tight End Wide Receiver Halfback	Philadelphia Eagles	1956-66
Chuck Bednarik	60	Linebacker Center	Philadelphia Eagles	1949-62
Al Wistert	70	Offensive tackle	Philadelphia Eagles	1944-51
Reggie White	92	Defensive end	Philadelphia Eagles	1985-92
Jerome Brown	99	Defensive tackle	Philadelphia Eagles	1987-91
Sammy Baugh	33	Quarterback Defensive Back Punter	Washington Redskins	1937-52
Bronko Nagurski	3	Fullback	Chicago Bears	1930-37, 1943
George McAfee	5	Halfback	Chicago Bears	1940-41, 1945-50
George Halas	7th	Wide receiver	Chicago Bears	1920-28
Willie Galimore	28	Running back	Chicago Bears	1957-63
Walter Payton	34	Running back	Chicago Bears	1975-87
Gale Sayers	40	Running back punt returner	Chicago Bears	1965-71
Brian Piccolo	41	Running back	Chicago Bears	1965-69
Sid Luckman	42	Quarterback	Chicago Bears	1939-50
Dick Butkus	51	Linebacker	Chicago Bears	1965-73
Bill Hewitt	56	Wide receiver	Chicago Bears	1932-36
Bill George	61	Linebacker	Chicago Bears	1952-65
Bulldog Turner	66	Linebacker Center	Chicago Bears	1940-52
Red grange	77	Halfback	Chicago Bears	1925-34
Mike Ditka	89	Tight end	Chicago Bears	1961-66
Dutch Clark	7th	Quarterback	Detroit Lions	1934-38
Barry Sanders	20th	Running back	Detroit Lions	1989-98
Bobby Layne	22nd	Quarterback kicker	Detroit Lions	1950-58
Doak Walker	37	Halfback Kicking Specialist	Detroit Lions	1950-55
Joe Schmidt	56	Linebacker	Detroit Lions	1953-65
Chuck Hughes	85	Wide receiver	Detroit Lions	1970-71
Tony Canadeo	3	Quarterback halfback	Green Bay Packers	1941-52
Brett Favre	4th	Quarterback	Green Bay Packers	1992-2007
Don Hutson	14th	Wide receiver safety kicker	Green Bay Packers	1935-45
Bart Starr	15th	Quarterback	Green Bay Packers	1956-71
Ray Nitschke	66	Linebacker	Green Bay Packers	1958-72
Reggie White	92	Defensive end	Green Bay Packers	1993-98
Fran Tarkenton	10	Quarterback	Minnesota Vikings	1961-78
Mick Tingelhoff	53	center	Minnesota Vikings	1962-78
Jim Marshall	70	Defensive end	Minnesota Vikings	1961-79
Korey Stringer	77	Offensive tackle	Minnesota Vikings	1995-2000
Cris Carter	80	Wide receiver	Minnesota Vikings	1990-2001
Alan Page	88	Defensive tackle	Minnesota Vikings	1967-78
Sam Mills	51	Linebacker	Carolina Panthers	1995-97
Jim Taylor	31	Fullback	New Orleans Saints	1967
Doug Atkins	81	Defensive end	New Orleans Saints	1967-69
Derrick Brooks	55	Linebacker	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1995-2008
Lee Roy Selmon	63	Defensive Tackle Defensive End	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1976-84
Warren Sapp	99	Defensive tackle	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1995-2003
Larry Wilson	8th	Safety	Arizona Cardinals	1960-72
Pat Tillman	40	Safety	Arizona Cardinals	1998-2001
Stan Mauldin	77	Offensive tackle	Arizona Cardinals	1946-48
JV Cain	88	Tight end	Arizona Cardinals	1974-78
Marshall Goldberg	99	Halfback	Arizona Cardinals	1939-43, 1946-48
Bob Waterfield	7th	Quarterback	Los Angeles Rams	1945-52
Marshall Faulk	28	Running back	Los Angeles Rams	1999-2006
Eric Dickerson	29	Running back	Los Angeles Rams	1983-87
Merlin Olsen	74	Defensive tackle	Los Angeles Rams	1962-76
Deacon Jones	75	Defensive end	Los Angeles Rams	1961-71
Jackie Slater	78	Offensive tackle	Los Angeles Rams	1976-95
Isaac Bruce	80	Wide receiver	Los Angeles Rams	1994-2007
Jack Youngblood	85	Defensive end	Los Angeles Rams	1971-84
Steve Young	8th	Quarterback	San Francisco 49ers	1987-99
John Brodie	12	Quarterback	San Francisco 49ers	1957-73
Joe Montana	16	Quarterback	San Francisco 49ers	1979-92
Joe Perry	34	Fullback	San Francisco 49ers	1948-60
Jimmy Johnson	37	Cornerback running back	San Francisco 49ers	1961-76
Hugh McElhenny	39	Halfback	San Francisco 49ers	1952-60
Ronnie Lott	42	Cornerback Safety	San Francisco 49ers	1981-90
Charlie Krueger	70	Defensive lineman	San Francisco 49ers	1959-73
Leo Nomellini	73	Offensive tackle Defensive tackle	San Francisco 49ers	1950-63
Bob St. Clair	79	Offensive tackle	San Francisco 49ers	1953-63
Jerry Rice	80	Wide receiver	San Francisco 49ers	1985-2000
Dwight Clark	87	Wide receiver	San Francisco 49ers	1979-87
Walter Jones	71	Offensive tackle	Seattle Seahawks	1997-2009
Steve Largent	80	Wide receiver	Seattle Seahawks	1976-89
Cortez Kennedy	96	Defensive tackle	Seattle Seahawks	1990-2000
Kenny Easley	45	Safety	Seattle Seahawks	1981-87
12th Man	12	Fans	Seattle Seahawks	since 1976

Web links

• Retired Numbers on nfl.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ John Doublin: Oakland Raiders History: Jersey Numbers That Should Be Retired-Offense. July 14, 2010, accessed December 13, 2015 . 
2. ^ Atlanta Falcons / Team-History / Ring-of-Honor. Retrieved November 2, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Why Michael Irvin is glad Cowboys don't retire his number. June 15, 2015, accessed December 13, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Thomas Stinson: The 00 Fad: It's Much Ado About Nothing . The Chicago Tribune . May 27, 1990. Retrieved December 13, 2015.