For more than 40 years, the NFL has made linebackers wear jersey numbers in the 50s and 90s.
But that could be changing.
The league’s Competition Committee has proposed allowing linebackers to don jerseys with numbers in the 40s. The reason, the committee said, was a “(shortage) of available numbers for linebackers.”
The current rule has been applied and followed without much incident over the years, with one notable exception coming when then-Seahawks linebacker Brian Bosworth got a restraining order to wear his preferred No. 44 jersey early in his rookie season of 1987. He eventually lost his legal fight and would wear No. 55.
Now, 28 years later, the NFL is finally getting around to allowing linebackers to wear numbers in the 40s?
That’s cold.
In fact, you could say it was “Stone Cold.”