Buffalo Bills history: Who wore it # 35

Because there is a lull for the next week plus until training camp keeps us on our toes with news and information about the upcoming season, we will be taking a look back at those players that have worn the red, white and blue, during the good, bad and ugly.

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Today we will take a look back at the 14 players that wore the number 35 for the Buffalo Bills.

The first to where the honors of the number 35 for the Buffalo Bills was Carl Smith. In 1960, Smith was the full back for the Bills. It was his only season in the league. He had 19 attempts for 61 yards.

We don’t see another 35 on the field until 1966 when Doug Goodwin took the number for the Buffalo Bills. He was only active for 3 games for the Bills during the 1966 year. He then was active fro only 2 games for Atlanta in 1967.

Charlie Bivins is the next we see to don the number 35. A halfback in 1967 for the Buffalo Bills, mainly used as a returner at the end of his NFL career. He did have 15 carries for 58 yards over 9 games.

Darnell Powell is the next player but not until 1976. He played for 2 years, first for the Bills then the Jets in 1978. Suited up for 11 games, he had 11 carries for 40 yards.

Mike Collier is the first player to wear 35 for more than a year for the Bills. He had the jersey during the 1977 and 1979 seasons. Collier had 31 carries over 6 games for 116 yards in 1977 and 34 carries over 16 games for 130 yards with 2 touchdowns.

Allan Clark is the next player to don the jersey number 35 for the Buffalo Bills in 1982 and was only around for 1 game.

Carl Byrum is the current leader for the length of time that the number 35 was worn, 3 years from 1986-1988. During the 3 years that Byrum was in the number, he played in 41 games and started 12 of them. He had 132 attempts for 527 yards with 0 touchdowns. His only touchdown came in the air on one of his 18 receptions.

When I think of the number 35 for the Buffalo Bills I think of Carwell Gardner, the longest tenured Buffalo Bill to wear the number 35; 6 years – 1990-1995. 83 games in the uniform, started 23 of them. Fullback for the Buffalo Bills during the Super Bowl years. He had a total of 11 touchdowns, 10 rushing and 1 receiving. He also finished with 178 attempts with 621 yards.

Jonathan Linton wore the number 35 from 1998-2000. During that time Linton played in 44 games. On 288 carries he came away with 1002 yards on the ground and added 246 yards from 33 receptions. He had a total of 8 touchdowns between the ground and air.

Joe Burns was with the Buffalo Bills for 4 years, 2002-2005. During 58 games during that time period, Burns had 64 carries for 193 yards. His only touchdown came on one of his 9 receptions for 88 yards.

Dustin Fox and Todd Johnson wore the number 35 for the Buffalo Bills over the next 3 years. Fox from 2007-2008 and Johnson in 2009. Fox was available for the Bills for 11 games and came away with 7 tackles. Johnson suited up for 8 games and had 3 tackles and 2 assists.

Jim Leonhard wore the number 35 for the Buffalo Bills on his second stint with the Buffalo Bills, first he wore number 42 for 3 years. In 2013 he only had a 1 year stint playing in all 16 seasons having 30 tackles and 4 interceptions. He finished with 54 games played in his Buffalo career with 86 tackles and 6 interceptions.

Bryce Brown is the most current Buffalo Bills to wear the number 35 being traded from the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2014 draft for a 3rd round pick. Bring the back-up to LeSean McCoy, high expectations came with him with a fumbling issue. A year later, he is still a back-up to LeSean McCoy and may not make the team. Brown has 36 attempts in 7 games for 136 yards for the Buffalo Bills.

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