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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 Saturday, we are just 71 days away from the Browns' regular season opener. No. 71 is currently represented by nose tackle Danny Shelton. Prior to Shelton, the number has been book-ended with two players who wore the number for a long time: defensive tackle Walter Johnson (12 years) and Ahtyba Rubin (9 years). Here is the list of players who have worn No. 71 in the history of the franchise, per Pro Football Reference:
From | To | AV | |
Walter Johnson | 1965 | 1976 | 58 |
Jesse Turnbow | 1978 | 1978 | 3 |
Matt Miller | 1981 | 1982 | 2 |
Ralph Van Dyke | 1987 | 1987 | 2 |
Tom Gibson | 1989 | 1990 | 3 |
Jim Pyne | 1999 | 2000 | 6 |
Damion Cook | 2004 | 2004 | 2 |
Kelly Butler | 2006 | 2006 | 2 |
Ahtyba Rubin | 2008 | 2014 | 37 |