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We are doing a countdown to the Cleveland Browns' first regular season game against the New York Jets, which is on September 13, 2015. For each day we are counting down, we will try to find a photo of a current or past member of the Browns in that uniform, and we'll also list the players who have donned that jersey in the past.
As of Friday, we are just 51 days away from the Browns' regular season opener. No. 51 is currently being worn by outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo. LB Dale Lindsey (8 years) and LB Eddie Johnson (10 years) had the longest legacies with the number. In the post-1999 era, three linebackers -- Chaun Thompson, Chris Gocong, and now Mingo -- have about equal notoriety. Here is the list of players who have worn No. 51 in the history of the franchise, per Pro Football Reference:
From | To | AV | |
Dale Lindsey | 1965 | 1972 | 32 |
Leo Tierney | 1978 | 1978 | 3 |
Eddie Johnson | 1981 | 1990 | 37 |
Gerald Dixon | 1993 | 1995 | 6 |
Lenoy Jones | 1999 | 2002 | 2 |
Ryan Taylor | 2000 | 2000 | 0 |
Chaun Thompson | 2003 | 2007 | 17 |
Shantee Orr | 2008 | 2008 | 1 |
Alex Hall | 2009 | 2009 | 1 |
Chris Gocong | 2010 | 2012 | 17 |
Barkevious Mingo | 2013 | 2014 | 9 |