Analyzing the Washington Football Team’s retired numbers

Official and unofficial retirement

There are really two levels of “retirement.” There is official retirement, where the team has a ceremony and announces that it will never use the number again. Then there is unofficial retirement, in which a number is effectively pulled from circulation.  This is far more common for most teams, Washington Football Team included.

Some teams never retire numbers. The Falcons and Cowboys have never officially retired a number. Some newer franchises like the Ravens, Texans, and Jaguars don’t have long histories, which may explain why they have never retired a number.

But most teams have at least a few unofficially retired numbers. The big exception is the Raiders. Not only have they never retired a number – they have never even pulled one from circulation. Currently, Zay Jones is wearing Kenny Stabler’s No. 12. Amik Robertson wears the No. 21 once worn by Cliff Branch, while Dallin Leavitt is running around in Marcus Allen’s No. 32. No offense to Mr. Jones, Robertson, and Leavitt, but really? Such is the Raiders way.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the Chicago Bears. They were a dominant team in the earliest years of the NFL and maybe went a little overboard on the retirement thing. As of 2020, they have 14 numbers officially retired. Worried that they might run out of numbers one day, they stopped the practice in 2013.

Walter Payton and Mike Ditka were the last two Bears players to have their numbers officially retired. I don’t think anyone has worn Brian Urlacher’s No. 54 since he stopped playing in 2012, but Barkevious Mingo is currently wearing Mike Singletary’s No. 50 (And if you think I wrote that last sentence just so I could drop a Barkevious Mingo reference, I can’t deny your suspicion).

Each franchise makes up its own rules about what constitutes a number deserving of retirement. The Cardinals franchise has retired five numbers, but only two of them were so honored for play on the field. The other retirements were due to early, tragic player deaths. The Bengals have only retired one number – the No. 54 worn by Bob Johnson, the very first Bengal.

Then there are teams like the Cowboys, who have never officially retired a number, but have pulled three numbers from circulation. No Cowboy has worn No. 8, 12, or 22 since Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, and Emmitt Smith retired. The Cowboys have done something else with their numbers that I really like. Just as a soccer team often awards the No. 10 to its central attacking playmaker, the Cowboys have begun awarding the No. 88 to its star receiver.

It came about organically. Drew Pearson once wore 88. Pearson was an excellent receiver, but upon his retirement, it did not seem necessary to pull 88 from circulation. Then, it was worn by Michael Irvin. And Dez Bryant. No. 88 acquired a lore in Cowboys history. When the team gave No. 88 to rookie CeeDee Lamb before the 2020 season, it made a statement. And so far, Lamb seems intent on living up to the lofty expectations.