Welcome back to Lombardi Ave's series covering the greatest Green Bay Packers players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.
We've got a tricky entry here at No. 27, and the end result may not please everyone. But before we break things down, let's first have a look at everyone who's worn the number for Green Bay over the years.
- Chet Adams, OT
- Hise Austin, DB
- Solon Barnett, G
- Myrt Basing, B
- Will Blackmon, CB
- Michael Blair, RB
- Hank Bruder, B
- Terrell Buckley, CB
- Larry Coutre, HB
- Tony Elliott, DB
- Herman Fontenot, RB
- Michael Hawthorne, DB
- Gary Hayes, DB
- Cal Hubbard, OT
- Jack Jacobs, B
- Claudis James, WR
- Calvin Jones, RB
- Josh Jones, S
- Eddie Lacy, RB
- Red Mack, WR
- Tod McBride, CB
- Lou Midler, DE
- Bo Molenda, B
- Kitan Oladapo, S
- Claude Perry, OL
- Al Randolph, DB
- Keith Ranspot, E
- Anthony Smith, S
- Tremon Smith, CB
- Veryl Switzer, HB
- John Symank, DB
- Cliff Taylor, RB
- Patrick Taylor, RB
- Chuck Tollefson, G
Now, throughout this series, we've trusted the fine folks at Pro Football Reference to tell us every player to don every digit for the Green & Gold over the 100-plus years of Packers football. And we will continue to do so until the end. But this is the first time we've had a little confusion.
As you saw above, legendary fullback Clarke Hinkle, who won a pair of titles (1936, 1939), earned four First-Team All-Pro selections, and is enshrined in both the Packers Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was not on the list. According to the team's official website, however, Hinkle wore No. 27 at times as a rookie in 1932, also sporting No. 33, as it wasn't uncommon back then to wear different digits in the same season.
And that goes for a career as well, as just about every player in the early years of the league and franchise wore several different numbers, which we've referenced in many of our entries thus far. The overall point here is that even if Hinkle did wear No. 27, he didn't wear it much. We do know that he wore No. 30 for the bulk of his career, so he's not taking this slot anyway. But we wanted you to have as much information as possible.
Along those same lines, the other two Packers Hall of Famers on this list, offensive lineman Cal Hubbard, who's also enshrined in Canton, and back Hank Bruder, who you saw earlier in the series, also only wore No. 27 for one season each.
As such, we're leaving the Lambeau era and moving into modern times for this one. To that end, cornerback Terrell Buckley had a solid three-year run with the number from 1992 to 1994, tallying 10 interceptions, but our call here comes from this century in the form of running back Eddie Lacy.
Eddie Lacy owns the Green Bay Packers' rookie records for rushing yards and rushing TDs
It's worth saying again that not everyone may like this choice, but it's often easy to forget just how dominant Lacy was in those first couple years of his career before fading nearly just as quickly.
A First-Team All-SEC selection for national champion Alabama in 2012 (and the BCS title game Offensive MVP), Lacy was taken by Green Bay in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft with the 61st overall selection.
And it certainly didn't take the Louisiana native long to adjust to life at the professional level, as he set new Green Bay rookie records with 1,178 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, while adding another 257 yards on 35 receptions.
For his efforts, Lacy earned a trip to the Pro Bowl and a Second-Team All-Pro nod and became just the second player in Packers history and the first since John Brockington (whose yardage record was broken, by the way) in 1971 to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.
In 2014, he followed up with another solid season, rushing for 1,139 yards and nine touchdowns and adding another 427 yards and four scores on 42 receptions. But that was as good as things ever got.
In 2015, his production dipped a bit, as he tallied 758 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and 188 yards and a pair of TDs as a receiver in 15 regular-season appearances.
And in 2014, an ankle injury ended his season after just five games, and that ultimately also proved to be the end of his Packers career, as he opted to leave Green Bay to sign a one-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks, with whom he spent just one year before his career came to a complete end.
Despite playing just 51 regular-season games for the Packers, Lacy racked up 4,335 total yards from scrimmage and scored 29 total touchdowns. One last time, not everybody may agree with this selection, but given everything we explained with the old-school guys, we're confident we made the right call.
More Green Bay Packers jersey honorees
- No. 0: There's literally only one choice here
- No. 1: Micah Parsons isn't the pick just yet
- No. 2: The Packers' all-time leading scorer
- No. 3: The second player in franchise history to have his jersey retired
- No. 4: There's no introduction needed here
- No. 5: This player should have been the last to wear the number but wasn't
- No. 6: A genuine ironman
- No. 7: This player was straight magic (until he wasn't)
- No. 8: This player has the second-most points in Packers history
- No. 9: The winner here has an extremely famous relative
- No. 10: A star on the rise
- No. 11: Packers' first title-winning QB
- No. 12: Obviously isn't up for debate
- No. 13: Had 'no weakness'
- No. 14: The first to have his jersey retired by the Packers
- No. 15: Owns a special piece of NFL history
- No. 16: Shares his name with an MLB legend
- No. 17: Had to beat out several Hall of Famers
- No. 18: Was one of the NFL's first dual-threat quarterbacks
- No. 19: Had his career cut short by the Bears
- No. 20: Has held a record for nearly 100 years
- No. 21: Has the most defensive TDs in NFL history
- No. 22: Also served in the U.S. Congress
- No. 23: Holds several NFL kick-return records
- No. 24: Owns a unique piece of Super Bowl history
- No. 25: Might not be who you think
- No. 26: Holds a historic place in NFL history
This list will be updated daily until all 100 entries are complete, so be sure to bookmark this page or check back in with Lombardi Ave for updates.
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