FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Veteran defensive end Chris Long knew he wouldn't be wearing No. 91 in his first season with the New England Patriots, as that is donned by Pro Bowl linebacker Jamie Collins. Long wore No. 91 with the Rams, but he's switching to No. 95 in New England after receiving a blessing from the player who previously wore that number, Chandler Jones.
In March, Long had reached out to Jones -- who was traded to the Arizona Cardinals -- to gauge his feelings on the possibility of wearing No. 95. He explained to his Twitter followers that it was the respectful thing to do.
It wasn't the only cordial back-and-forth between Long and Jones.
With Long's jersey choice as the springboard, here is a look at the numbers for many of the Patriots' new players:
WR Chris Hogan -- 15
RB Donald Brown -- 34
CB E.J. Biggers -- 39
LB Ramon Humber -- 53
LB Shea McClellin -- 58
G Jonathan Cooper -- 65
DL Frank Kearse -- 72
TE Martellus Bennett -- 83
WR Nate Washington -- 84
TE Clay Harbor -- 88
DT Markus Kuhn -- 94
DE Long -- 95
DT Terrance Knighton -- 96
A few other changes of note: CB Darryl Roberts will now wear No. 27, LB James Vaughters is No. 48 and linebacker Jon Bostic switched to No. 52.
