Kelsay unwilling to cede No. 90, 'Mario understood'

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Mario Williams has a bigger contract than any defensive player in NFL history, but none of that money will go toward buying his old jersey number, at least from Chris Kelsay.

Kelsay, the Bills' second-longest tenured player, told the Buffalo News he's "not really interested" in dealing his jersey number (90) to newly-aqcuired fellow defensive end Williams, who wore No. 90 during his tenure with the Texans.

"People who have never played don't realize how attached you can actually get to a number," Kelsay said. "Having played with it my whole career, it was something I don't really want to part with and he completely understood. That was basically it."

The NFL requires defensive linemen to wear numbers between 90 and 99 or 60 and 79. Buffalo has no unassigned numbers between 90 and 99, though Williams could acquire a number from a player not named Kelsay. The Buffalo News speculates Williams will take No. 92 from Alex Carrington.

Ultimately, the team can give Williams any number it wants, as the organization owns the rights to the number, not the players, though the Bills would rather the players resolve the issue among themselves.

Kelsay said the team is pushing for the Williams jersey number saga to be resolved soon, as the Bills are certainly slated to make a boatload of money off the selling of jerseys donning the elite pass-rushers name and number.

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