Welcome once again to our 100-part series on the best Green Bay Packers players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.
After not having to make many tough decisions during some of the earlier entries, what with there being only one player to wear No. 0 and Packers legends Curly Lambeau, Mason Crosby, Tony Canadeo, Brett Favre, and Paul Hornung taking up Nos. 1-5, we've had some choices over the last couple of digits, and we've got yet another one to make here at No. 8.
But before we get to the winner, let's first have a look at everyone who's worn it for Green Bay over the years.
- Tim Boyle, QB
- Mark Brunell, QB
- Sean Clifford, QB
- Anthony Dilweg, QB
- Bob Forte, HB
- Moose Gardner, G
- Josh Jacobs, RB
- Bob Kahler, DB/HB
- Walt LeJeune, G
- Ryan Longwell, K
- Tim Masthay, P
- Russ Mosley, B
- Ray Pelfrey, E
- Amari Rodgers, WR
- Andy Uram, HB
- Justin Vogel, P
- Max Zendejas, K
Let's just get this out of the way right here from the get-go—it's not Josh Jacobs.
Now, if this were a competition of the best player on this list to wear No. 8 for any team in the NFL, three-time Pro Bowler Mark Brunell would obviously be in the running, as he's arguably one of the five best left-handed quarterbacks of all time. But seeing as this is all about who wore it best for the Packers, he's not an option, as he only spent two years with the franchise as Brett Favre's backup, throwing just 27 passes in two regular-season games before finding success with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The pair of players we did consider but ultimately didn't roll with are both members of the Packers Hall of Fame, those being halfbacks Andy Uram and Bob Forte. In the end, though, we opted for the third and most recent inductee into that same Hall of Fame from this list, kicker Ryan Longwell.
Ryan Longwell was the Packers' all-time leading scorer when he left the team
A two-time All-Pac-10 selection at Cal-Berkeley, Longwell went undrafted in 1997 but signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers, who waived him in July, with the Packers picking him up the very next day.
The Seattle native wasn't really expected to stick around, as Green Bay, who'd opted to move on from longtime kicker Chris Jacke, had used a third-round draft pick that year on Penn State's Brett Conway.
But when Conway struggled during the preseason and then subsequently suffered a quadriceps injury while trying to fix the problem, Longwell ultimately won the job and simply never gave it up until he left the team following the 2005 season.
In his nine seasons with the Packers, he connected on 226 of 277 regular-season field goals and 376 of 380 extra-point attempts. As such, after those nine seasons, his 1,054 points were the most in Green Bay history.
Longwell has since been surpassed by the aforementioned Mason Crosby, who racked up 1,918 over the course of 16 years with the club, but Longwell still sits in second and can at least claim that his make percentages for both field goals (81.6 to 81.4) and PATs (98.9 to 97.3) are better than Crosby's.
Following his exit from Green Bay, Longwell spent six seasons with the rival Minnesota Vikings before closing out his career playing one postseason game with the Seattle Seahawks at the end of the 2012 season. In August 2013, Green Bay announced that he would retire as a Packer, and he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2018.
Other 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
This list will be updated daily until all 100 entries are complete, so be sure to check back in with Lombardi Ave for updates.
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