Buffalo Bills History: Who Wore It – Number 15

During the Buffalo Bills history there has been 4 different players to wear the number 15.  Two of the players were quarterbacks and one was a wide receiver and the other played both wide receiver and safety

The earliest player to wear the number 15 was quarterback Jack Kemp.  Jack Kemp came into his football career in 1957 playing for the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.  He played in the CFL in 1959 and then moved onto the AFL in 1960 and played for the San Diego Chargers until 1962 when he came to the Bills and stayed until 1969 until being elected into office.  Kemp lead the Bills to a repeat championship in 1965 after they moved from a run oriented attack to a passing attack in 1965.  He won the AFL MVP as well as the Championship Game Most Valuable Player award in 1965.  Kemp was elected as an AFL all start 7 total times; 6 of those were with the Bills. Kemp was raised to the Bills Wall of Fame in 1984 and the number 15 was subsequently retired.

Kemp’s number was brought out of retirement for Jim Kelly‘s heir, or so we thought.  Todd Collins was the next player to wear number 15.  Collins was drafted in 1995 by the Bills.  He was the backup to Jim Kelly until the 1997 season after Kelly retired in 1996.  After beating out Alex Van Pelt and Billy Joe Hobert for the starting job, Collins lead the Bills to miss the playoffs for only the 2nd time since 1988. He was released after starting only one season for the Bills.  Collins went on to play for the Chiefs, Redskins and finished with the Bears in 2010.  Most of Collins’ career records came with the Bills.  He finished his career with a 71.8 quarterback rating.

George Wilson is the 3rd of 4 to wear the number 15.  He came to the Bills after being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Lions and then released in 2004.  He was signed to the Bills practice squad in 2004.  He came to the Bills as a wide receiver.  He stayed a wide receiver and didn’t make his move, until 2007, to strong safety.  On MNF, on Oct 8th, 2007 against the Cowboys, Wilson intercepted Tony Romo and returned it for a touchdown on his first career start.  Wilson is the only Bills safety to post a multi-sack season since Lawyer Milloy did in 2003-2004.  Wilson was released early last year and was picked up by the Tennessee Titans.

The final player to wear the number 15 is current Bills wide receiver Chris Hogan.  Hogan has been a part of 3 other teams before he got to the Bills but was never part of their 53- man roster.  Hogan was with the Dolphins in 2011-2012 and was seen on the HBO show “Hard Knocks” and was nicknamed “7-11” because he was always open.  Hogan was cut from the Dolphins practice squad in 2012 and was signed by the Bills and has been a part of the active roster since.  He has just recently accepted a contract offer by the Bills for the 2014 season.