An easy one for sure.

#28 - Darrell Green

For just about every single Redskins fan out there, there is only one #28. I grew up never knowing a Redskins team that Darrell was not a part of, and for a while there, it seemed there might never be a time when he would call it quits. Here are some of the accolades Darrell collected in his 20-year career (see below for Q&A with Darrell):

Pro Bowls - 7

All-Pro Selection - 4

NFL 1990's All-Decade Team

19 seasons with at least 1 INT (NFL record)

20 seasons all with one NFL team (tied with Jackie Slater)

54 INTs

6 TDs

To us, he was the greatest cornerback in the league, and we would find ourselves in absolute shock when fans of other teams would argue for Rod Woodson, or Deion Sanders, or even Aeneas Williams depending on when you had the debate. Sacrilege! Imagine the envy of every fan in the country when we entered the season with Deion Sanders, Champ Bailey and Darrell Green as our top 3 corners.

Over the course of his career, Darrell Green developed quite the "it" factor. Starting with the famous play on Monday Night Football when a rookie corner wearing #28 ran down Tony Dorsett from behind, to the punt return touchdown against the Bears in the playoffs, to the countless passes defensed--Darrell Green's presence on the field meant anything could happen.

We had a chance to get through to Darrell after his visit to Canton last week.

HH: What player in the league today reminds you most of yourself and the way you played the game?

Darrell: I can't think of anyone.

HH: What--specifically on defense-- has changed the most since you joined the league over 20 years ago? What position has evolved the most on defense?

Darrell: The defensive game is always rotating like clothes or fashion. For a while they were with guys like Monk when they wanted the big WR but then during the run and shoot era, they played the smaller WR. Then they went back to the big guys in Irvin and T.O. So it's not really evolving...it's rotating like bellbottoms to straight leg. There's not really anything new. There's only so much you can do on the field. The game just becomes more specialized depending on the leadership of the coach...like a Dungy or a Belichick.

We thank Darrell so much for his time. He wanted us to pass on to you guys that he is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DarrellGreen28, and online at www.darrellgreen.com.

We LOVE that he doesn't see anyone in the league today that reminds him of himself.

Finally, since we are on the subject, I highly recommend making it out to Canton, Ohio for a Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Kevin and I went out for the ceremony inducting Art Monk and Darrell Green and the trip was amazing. Judging by the turnout that weekend, most of you did go, but in case some of you reading have not had the chance to get there, put it on the list. The next time a former Redskin gets inducted, make sure you do your best to see if you can make it out there.

Free Agency has always been a Redskins thing, right? Well, not really. When Joe Gibbs was taking teams to Super Bowls, the most important thing they did was to pursue their own idea of 'team' and use the draft to accomplish the construction of the team. Just prior to his last Super Bowl run, however, the league presented Joe Gibbs with the intriguing opportunity to add an established player or two from other teams to complement what he already had. Plan B free agency was born and with it, a whole new era of player movement.

#27 - Brad Edwards

via www.beckett.com

Gibbs picked up Edwards in 1990 under the new Plan B free agency system. The system was a bit different back then. I believe teams could protect their rights to 37 players on their roster. A Plan B player could not sign with a new team without giving his old team the first chance to sign him. The rest of the roster was left unprotected and these players could go out and negotiate contracts with any other team in the league.

In 4 years as a Redskin, Edwards had 13 interceptions. And in the 3 seasons in which he started 16 games for us, he averaged just a hair north of 150 tackles per season. But his performance in Super Bowl XXVI locks him up as our pick at #27. His two interceptions against the Buffalo Bills almost earned him MVP honors. He had 4 tackles, broke up 5 passes and had 56 INT return yards. Instead, Mark Rypien took the MVP trophy home despite the rough start he had that day.

As long as we're talking about that Super Bowl, does anyone remember the halftime show? God I hope not. It was Dorothy Hamill and Brian Boitano. Seriously. The forgettable nature of the show itself is only part of why you don't remember it. CBS broadcast the game and FOX threw up a special episode of In Living Color that coincided exactly with halftime (I even remember the little timer in the bottom corner of the screen.) In a stunning shocker, CBS got crushed in the halftime ratings. I can't believe someone in that boardroom thought that figure skating would be a great idea to hold people's attention during a FOOTBALL telecast. Someone paid attention though. The following year, Michael Jackson was the halftime show. We could spend all day talking about the evolution of Super Bowl halftime shows, but I always thought that the Redskins-Bills clash played an important role in getting us to where we are today. U2, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty have all been--in my opinion--great halftime shows, worthy of being during a Super Bowl. Unfortunately, in order to get to these heavy hitters, we had to suffer through the late 90's, when network execs would collect a random collection of pop artists, throw together a hastily choreographed collaboration and voila!...craptasticness ensued.

Sooooooo....I guess in addition to Brad Edwards being a pretty serviceable safety, he also gets an assist for making Super Bowl halftime watchable?

P.S. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill even skated on actual ice.

via www.redskinsgab.com

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Well, we waited about as long as we could for the Clinton Portis interview to materialize. We simply cannot keep the numbers frozen at #25 forever.

#26 - Clinton Portis

There are some choices at #26, but for my money, Clinton Portis gets the nod. When he came here, he replaced Trung Canidate as our featured back. So not only was he coming in as a hot commodity based on the numbers he put up in Denver, he was coming in to breathe new life into a running game that had been left to wither under Spurrier's watch. Like many of you out there who play Madden, I have always enjoyed the fantasy draft feature of the game. Going back to the time when he was a Bronco, I always put him on my Redskins squad. When the news of his acquisition was made, all I could think about was all those hours of Madden I had spent watching him in a Redskins uniform. And he did not wait to impress the Redskins' faithful. He took his first carry 64 yards to the house on opening day. All I could think from my seat in the stands that day was who we would face in the Super Bowl--for the next 5 years.

Well...we never got there. But you can't pin that on #26. If he stays healthy this year, he will most likely overtake Riggo as the franchise's all-time leading rusher. He has 9,202 career yards, and 72 career rushing touchdowns. I have said it here before and I will say it again--I do think this player makes it to the Hall of Fame. If CP manages just two more average years in his career, he would be closing in on 12,000 yards and 90+ touchdowns. From a numbers perspective, he is likely (barring career-ending injury) to get into that top-10/top-15 neighborhood. If this team can put a playoff run together one of these years, he could really earn some of the votes he will need to get into the Hall.

That alone should get me into a heap of trouble with a lot of you out there. Better that though than an army of Danny Copeland fans giving me a hard time. Either way, I am looking forward to that trip to Canton.

Who?

Wil Nieves.

Moving on.

#25

Joe Washington

I have to give the nod to this running back who played with the team from 1981-1984. What he lacked in size he made up for with speed and agility. Which isn't to say he was tiny. He held up well in the league. Drafted by the Chargers in 1976, his last year was in 1985 with the Falcons. As a Redskin, he joined John Riggins to create a formidable backfield that took us to two Super Bowls.

via i.cdn.turner.com

The funny thing about this picture is that it shows us taking the Raiders to town in a regular season game. As we all know, the Raiders and Joe Washington hooked up for one of the more embarrassing plays in Super Bowl history for the Skins. There were only 12 seconds left in the first half and the Redskins were down 14-3, pinned deep in our own territory. Joe Gibbs called for a swing pass to Joe Washington, a play that had burned the Raiders in a regular season game against the Skins. The Raiders' defensive coaching staff sent linebacker Jack Squirek into the game to look for and stop that exact play. He of course grabs the easiest INT ever and scores a ridiculously simple TD. The rest of that game is of course history.

I seem to remember Joe Washington could leap over would-be tacklers. I tried and could not find a picture or video of this. But I know he did it (probably as a Colt and a Redskin.)

With all respects to Tom Carter, I am giving the shortened Sunday edition #25 to Joe Washington.

Who was your favorite #25?

I struggled with this one a little. As a kid watching those Gibbs teams make short work of regular season opponents on their way to the "second season", I remember Kelvin Bryant doing some things that made my eyes widen. He always seemed to be fighting off an injury, and he was never really the feature back for a whole season or any substantial stretch. But he had close to 1000 yards from scrimmage in 1987, and again in 1988. On the ground he picked up about 5 yards per carry over those two years in limited action and made up the rest through the air, proving to be a pretty consistent receiver out of the backfield with 40+ catches in 3 straight seasons. If I am not mistaken, Timmy Smith actually got the start in Super Bowl XXII only because Kelvin was not 100%. The rest is of course history there. So K.B., if you're out there, thanks for the memories.

#24 - Champ Bailey

via nbcsportsmedia2.msnbc.com

But even despite the abandonment issues I struggled with (more on that below), Champ still gets my respect here. Who among us was not a huge Champ Bailey fan when he was wearing #24? I think it is safe to say he was never taken for granted by the fans. Think about how good he was to come in and play alongside Darrell Green, and Deion Sanders, and teams STILL threw away from him. When we drafted him, I remember wondering--as most of us did no doubt, if he would factor in other areas of the game for us. After all, he was a wide receiver, return man, and defensive stud coming out of Georgia. I think the coach down there said he did just about everything on Saturdays except play in the band at halftime. He was so crucial to our defense though, that the thought of him getting injured in another facet of the game (specifically offense) was unbearable to the coaching staff.

I used to play in a pickup football game on Saturday mornings (back in Champ's Redskinsheyday) and there was a guy who started wearing a Wayne Chrebet jersey every week. He fancied himself to be a scrappy receiver and he was one of the more athletic guys playing wideout each week on the other team. So I went to Modell's, bought a #24 Bailey jersey and wore it underneath a sweatshirt until we went on defense. I lined up opposite the Chrebet wannabe and called timeout. Out came the #24 jersey. I wish I could say I remember the exact score of that game, or even any stats--personal or otherwise--to make the story better, but if I were to get any wrong, one of the guys who was there that day would surely crucify me over it! What I can tell you is that my team really responded to the #24 jersey coming out. I know we won, and I have always credited the jersey. Champ Bailey was so good, that even a weekend warrior hack like me was able to channel something through that jersey that made a difference on the field. It not only made me more confident, but it seemed to make my teammates more revved up and loose.

And that really sums up how I felt watching him on Sundays. You always kind of felt comfortable with him on the field, like nothing too bad was going to happen with him locking down the other team's best receiver. It is a shame that we were not able to do more as a franchise while we had him in the fold. And his departure was truly a blow to the perception of an organization that was already suffering from a pretty bad public image around the league.

How do you reconcile the fond memories of a franchise player with the feeling of abandonment when he left? For me, I always kind of respected the way Champ conducted his business. I invite those of you with a different memory of this to chime in, because maybe I get it wrong, but my understanding is Champ really made his desire to leave known to Coach Gibbs in a face-to-face, man-to-man setting. I don't recall a big press conference with Champ and his agent demanding a trade. I don't recall Champ showing up on ESPN, or other news outlets, making statements about his dislike for coaches or players, tossing a tantrum to get out of town. I think it went down by Champ telling Coach Gibbs, "Hey, I am done with this franchise. I am done with the way they have been doing things here, and you should do what you can to get something in return for me now."

This was right as Gibbs was walking back in the door. It gave him a chance to do a quick survey of the league and find a player that could step in and be a guy he could lean on offensively. That ended up being Clinton Portis. I would prefer to set aside the very fair debate on whether or not a franchise corner is worth the same as a franchise running back. It seems clear in this day and age that there is almost nothing worth more than a franchise cornerback. (And God help me, I will never figure out how Denver got that extra second round pick out of us. Jebus...)

Champ has continued to be the class of the league at CB, and Clinton has been a pretty damn good Redskin in his own right. I should never have brought up that second round pick. I literally can't think straight now. 

#24 - Champ Bailey

When D Hall intercepted that ball against the Cowgirls in his first game as a Redskin, it took a second to register what was happening. After all, it had been a while since we had seen that kind of play made by a member of our secondary, much less from a #23. Sure, the ball was thrown right at him, but it was still an awkward catch that required an athletic play on the ball and it was nice to see the concentration to get the ball secured first before worrying about running back up field. But with less than a year of service wearing the Burgundy and Gold, can D Hall really be our #23? (Extra credit given to him since he grew up as a Skins fan.)

As you all know, I love to dip into those Super Bowl rosters, and the next two numbers give me the chance to do just that.

#23 - Todd Bowles (left of Art Monk here in picture)

via extras.mnginteractive.com

If you watched the Skins in the mid-80's, you remember Todd Bowles. He started at safety for the Redskins in Super Bowl XXII. I picked him over D Hall because he was a player who was clearly smart and disciplined and in the back of Petitbon's defense, he may not have been an All-Pro, but he was no slouch. Lending to the case for Bowles as a player with a high football IQ: Bill Parcells has added him to the coaching staff down in Miami. He is the Assistant Head Coach and Secondary Coach. While Parcells is no hero of mine, he obviously knows a little about coaching, and his endorsement of our former safety as a man with a future on the sidelines is pretty telling.

We are currently trying to reach out to Todd to see if he will answer some questions for us about his time in Washington, as well as his perspective of the D.C. franchise as a coach in the league. I've played some phone tag with the Dolphins' PR employees so I am still a TAD optimistic. 

In the meantime, let the people speak...D Hall or Todd?

We have fallen behind...ok, I have fallen behind. For a series that was designed to help us mine content during the offseason, we have found ways to make articles about forgotten kickers fun...to write (hopefully it was fun to read about Ali Haji-Sheikh, Reggie Roby and of course, Tom Tupa's dad.)

It will be time for training camp soon enough so we need to pick up some serious steam. What we will do going forward is put together our pick for the number of the day (or numbers of the day) and then as we are able to fill in with interviews and stories, we will update/re-post. As always, we remind you that we aren't naming the greatest Redskin to ever wear the jersey. Think of this as more of the game you might play on a road trip, trying to name a Redskin for each number. We'll throw out one or two, and you fill in the rest, with your own stories and opinions, as well as anything else going on that day. We would love to get through 99 this summer, so efforts must be doubled.

#22 - Carlos Rogers

via allhailredskins.com

I am not too old to remember the name Curtis Jordan, but I am too young to remember much more than the name. He was drafted the year I was born (1976). Carlos Rogers is the obvious #22 today. When we drafted him #9 overall back in the 2005 draft, I remember thinking how much we needed a cover corner to come in and be a stud for us. Pacman Jones and Antrel Rolle went ahead of him to Tennessee and Arizona respectively, despite Rogers winning the Jim Thorpe Award for being the nation's top defensive back in the 2004 collegiate season.

There were those who doubted he was the best pick for us in that draft. And we have all witnessed him struggle with bringing the ball down when the interceptions have been there. But this past season he stepped up in a major way, coming off the knee injury.

The contract situation remains a bit dicey. But only for Carlos it seems. The word on the street is that the league is going to enter an uncapped year next year. If that is true, Carlos, who is entering the final year of his contract (same as JC), wil NOT be an unrestricted free agent, as he will not have the required service in the league to do so. This explains why Carlos may have been antsy to get his new deal from the Redskins (or anyone else) in the last year.

So I am hard-pressed to call this a contract year, but here's hoping that Rogers does what most NFL players seem to be capable of these days--putting together his best year with all his future money on the line.

#22 - Carlos Rogers

We are a fifth of the way through the list and we made it to a number near and dear to all of our hearts.

#21 - Sean Taylor

Image via thecheckup

We have featured other players who spent relatively short stretches as a Redskin. But no one like this one. To be upfront, I have to say that Sean Taylor quickly became my favorite player after he was drafted, and like any fan of a player on their favorite team, I found it insanely easy to overlook things that may have turned off other fans. I know Kevin felt the same way immediately.

Kevin had the chance last week to speak with Taylor's college coach, Larry Coker. Here is that interview:

KevinE: I see that you and Sean both started at Miami in 2001. What about Sean stood out to you when you first saw him? Did you recruit him?

Larry Coker: Yea, I recruited Sean. His physical presence, his size and his speed. Sean Taylor could have played safety, linebacker, or running back at the University of Miami. He was just a great talent. He did everything. He went to a small private high school [Gulliver] and did everything: returned kicks, punts, was running back, and was a defensive player. He was like a throw back player that you just play all the time. 

KevinE: I noticed you have a Masters in guidance counseling, was there ever a time you applied those skills with Sean? 

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