No Buffalo Bills player will ever wear No. 78 again.
Team president Russ Brandon announced Wednesday morning that BillsHall of Fame pass rusher Bruce Smith will have his number retired this coming season.
While there are 30 members of the Bills Wave of Fame, only one other number has been retired in team history: Jim Kelly's No. 12.
Kelly had his number retired in 2001. Smith will become the second, when his No. 78 is retired on Thursday night, Sept. 15, against the New York Jets.
"Bruce Smith was 100 percent football player," Kelly said, via the team's official website. "He was one of those guys when people talk about being the best, 'I want to be the best. I want to do this. I want to do that.' Bruce Smith was all about wanting to be the best possible football player he could be. He wanted to be the best that ever played, and pretty much, as I look at it, even though he was a teammate of mine, I think he definitely is one of the best defensive ends ever to play the game."
The No. 1 overall pick in 1985, Smith enjoyed 19 NFL seasons, including 15 in Buffalo. The best defensive player in Bills history own the NFL's all-time sack record, with 200 quarterback takedowns -- 163 came in Buffalo.
Smith was the face of the defense during the Bills' run to four straight Super Bowls in the early 90s. Smith was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice (1990, 1996), garnered 11 Pro Bowls and was named First Team All-Pro eight times in his career. The pass rusher was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
