Commanders to retire Darrell Green's No. 28 - 'Means a ton' - ESPN

ASHBURN, Va. — When Josh Harris purchased the Washington Commanders last summer, one of the first calls he made was to Darrell Green, a player he grew up cheering for during the organization's heyday. So it's no surprise that Harris made Green the first player whose jersey he wanted to retire.

Green will become the fifth player in franchise history to have his number retired, the Commanders announced Thursday, joining Sammy Baugh, Bobby Mitchell, Sonny Jurgensen and Sean Taylor. Green wore No. 28 and played 20 seasons in the NFL — all with Washington.

«It means a ton to me,» Green said. «I never thought about this, never dreamed about it, never asked about it, whatever. But when it was spoken to me, it blew me away. It caught me. It touched something down on the inside of me that I didn't know was there. So now I'm very humbled by this, but this is huge. This is a big deal, and I'm grateful for that. And I'm that guy that played the whole career here, wasn't chasing the money and stuff, and it just kind of, in many ways, it just validated, man, I made the right decision.»

Green, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008, his first year of eligibility, owns multiple NFL records, including most games played by a defender (295) and most consecutive seasons with an interception (19). Green, 5-foot-9 and always considered one of the NFL's fastest players during his career, was named an Associated Press All-Pro three times and a Pro Bowler seven times. He played on two Super Bowl championship teams.

«You all said, 'Man, he's fast.' But I could cover,» Green said at a media gathering in October. «I got in the Hall of Fame because I could cover.… Plus I was fast.»

Washington informed Green of the latest honor