Joe Thomas Says Former Browns Player Asked To Wear His Number
Since the 2025 NFL Draft ended, there have been multiple stories about high-profile selections and the jersey numbers they have chosen.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward had a touching moment when he was surprised by franchise legend Warren Moon, who came out and presented him with a No. 1 jersey in a passing-of-the-torch moment.
No. 1 is retired by the Titans, but Ward will wear it anyway with Moon’s blessing.
Browns legend Joe Thomas recently called into “The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show” to discuss how he went through the same situation with Jedrick Wills Jr. after the 2020 NFL Draft.
“So when Jed Wills got drafted, I was kind of helping him around … and he asked me for my number, and I was a little caught off guard, but hey, if everybody in the building was OK with it, I wasn’t going to be like, ‘No, that’s my number, leave me alone.’ But Kevin Stefanski stepped in, and he was like, ‘Hey, pump the brakes, big boy,’” Thomas said, via Mikey McNuggets.
Abdul Carter asked Lawrence Taylor if he could wear #56. Taylor said no, make your own legacy.
According to @joethomas73 on @ultCLEsports — Jed Wills asked him about wearing #73 but Kevin Stefanski shut that down real quick #Browns pic.twitter.com/bUIfCp8Ztx
— Mikey McNuggets (@MikeLucasTV) April 28, 2025
Wills is a free agent and appears unlikely to return to the Browns, so it’s probably a good idea that he didn’t get to wear No. 73 and was given No. 71 instead.
Thomas’ number hasn’t officially been retired, but Stefanski has said that no other player will wear it as long as he is the head coach.
It will be interesting to see if other rookies try to push the envelope with retired numbers now that Ward is allowed to wear one.
NEXT:
Adam Schefter Reveals What Surprised Him About Browns’ Draft
