Last week, the Arrowhead Pride
staff noticed a change of jersey number assigned to Kansas City Chiefs’ rookie defensive end R Mason Thomas in the NFL Media’s data for active rosters.On Monday, the team officially announced the change: Thomas will no longer wear No. 34 in red and gold, opting instead for No. 51, which was last worn by defensive end Mike Danna over the past six seasons.
Coincidentally (it has to be, right?), the change is announced on the same day that the Buffalo Bills signed Danna
to a one-year deal after hosting him for a workout last week.
The change was necessary, given that Thomas is listed as a defensive end and not an outside linebacker. According to NFL Football Operations, defensive linemen are only permitted to wear jersey numbers between 50-79 and 90-99, while linebackers are allowed to wear numbers 0-59.
Linemen, both offensively and defensively, were the only positions that weren’t given additional freedom to choose jersey numbers when the rule was changed in 2023 to make single-digit numbers more widely donned.
So Thomas will be wearing No. 51, and he is certainly a defensive end for Kansas City.
Before Danna, No. 51 was rocked by defenders like outside linebacker Frank Zombo or linebacker Scott Fujita, for three seasons. However, the uniform is most well-known in Chiefs Kingdom as being worn by legendary linebacker Jim Lynch, who played all 11 of his NFL seasons in Kansas City, earned All-Pro honors twice and won Super Bowl IV.
