The Daily Helmet: Six NFL Teams That Should Change Their Uniforms Immediately
There are some really great uniforms in the NFL, for me I love a team that finds a classic look and sticks to it. The Packers, Bears, Raiders and Colts all have kept their classic looks and they all look great. Teams that seem to change their uniforms every five years always have problematic or just plain bad uniforms. There were teams, mainly the Oilers who changed their uniforms often in their history, but until they turned into the Titans in 1999, they had great uniforms throughout their history, even though they changed six or seven times in their early history, before settling on the last uniform they would wear, in the 1980s.
Recently, to much fanfare , the Los Angeles Chargers announced they were going back to their wonderful Powder Blue jerseys full time, or at least as their new primary uniform. It was one of the more exciting developments in NFL uni-news in some time. On the other end of the spectrum was the not so exciting and possibly completely pointless addition of the Texans logo to the back of their same boring jerseys. There also is the case of the Jets, who had a complete redesign, but it wasn’t a complete disaster so their new set is just fine, though very far from perfect. With that said here are the five NFL teams that I think should change their uniforms immediately. Forget protocol. Just order the new sets and take the field this fall. Another game looking at these uniforms would be too much.
The Obvious: Cleveland Browns And Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I am not including these two teams on the official list of six. Nearly everyone agrees that both these uniforms are the worst in the league. I’m not sure there is one thing that looks right on the Buccaneers uniforms. I’m sure it is only a matter of time before they switch to something else? What? Who knows? They should go back to the original colors and Bucco Bruce, but who knows if they would ever do that, given how bad the Bucs were for most of the period they wore those. as a throwback they were almost universally loved, but if they were to go back full time, I’m sure some people would start complaining.
As for the Browns, it has already been announced, if not officially, that they will be changing uniforms again for the 2020 season. The first, by NFL rules, they are eligible. It will mark the end of one of the darkest periods in franchise history. Maybe second only to those few seasons the franchise didn’t even exist. I just hope the Browns, who are supposed to be pretty good this season, at least on paper, don’t win the Super Bowl in those ugly things. Maybe the browns should wait one more season before winning it all for the first time.
Here are the six teams that absolutely should abandon whatever they are wearing and either get a new design or go back to a classic look. Some of these have just been wearing them too long or they just never looked good in the first place. Mainly the one thing all of these teams have in common, is a uniform that is far superior in their history. There are some teams like the Cardinals, Saints, Bengals, Rams, and Seahawks that need a change, but I don’t think it is as much of an emergency as the ones below.
6. Houston Texans-Worn since 2002
The Texans have never done it for me. Forget the great football uniform Houston has had over the years. Be it the Oilers, Gamblers or even the WFL Houston Texans. There have been some amazing football uniforms in that Texas city. Even if none of those exist, the Texans is still a boring and generic name and uniform. The only thing I like about the current uniforms is their steer logo, which is really well designed, but is almost lost on their too dark navy blue helmets. I’m also not a fan of having no stripe on the helmet. If I was redesigning, I would go to a lighter blue, preferably Columbia, and switch to a white helmet. Plus add a stripe of some sort which to me adds to the overall design of helmets and in many ways is my favorite part.
5. Miami Dolphins- Worn Since 2013 (Tweaked in 2018)
The Dolphins classic uniforms are amazing. Whether the Dolphin is in the or out of the sun, the uniforms they wore until 1996 were pretty damn good. Then in 1997 they went to the more cartoony Dolphin and in 2013 when to a ridiculous helmet-less dolphin. Their colors were changed as well in 2013, finally switching back to more historical colors with the slight uniform redesign in 2018. Everyone loves their throwbacks. In fact if they wore their throwbacks full time, they would have a top five uniform in the league. Instead the Dolphins have decided to stick with the “modern” look and there are no signs they will be switching back anytime soon and more than likely the adjustments made in 2018 mean they by rule can’t change their primary uniforms for another four years. If I was king, though, they would be wearing the throwbacks full time starting week one in September. No need to fool around with these inferior “modern” uniforms.
4. New England Patriots Worn since 2000
It is funny how winning can change how a fanbase thinks about their uniforms. I’m sure if pressed, any Pats fan would admit that the current uniforms are inferior to the original 1993 design and for sure the Pat Patriot uniforms worn from the 1960s into the early 90s. The thing is, when you have won or have been to the Super Bowl nearly every season the past couple decades, it is hard for a fan base to be mad. Add to that, the fact that the Pats just were not that good when wearing the Pat Patriot uniforms, and you have a franchise that probably won’t be changing uniforms for a long time. For this list though, I am ignoring all that and judging strictly by aesthetics. The current Pats uniforms have to go. They are just not great. Too dark, too many panels and piping. They improved on them a bit with their color rush set, but all in all whenever I watch them I just long for the days of Pat Patriot.
3. Atlanta Falcons Worn Since 2003
When the Falcons first switched to black helmets, I with probably a lot of other kids my age loved them. What 10-13 year old kid doesn’t love black uniforms. I was a Raider fan so when the Falcons went “Back To Black” I didn’t think anything of it and probably actually liked it. As an adult though, I have come to my senses and I will say I was a dumb kid. The Falcons should have never went away from their red helmets. The lack of red helmets in the NFL (just one left), is horrible. The color red pops on TV and just looks great overall. Instead they went black and silver, basically trying to be the southeastern Raiders. They would stick with the same original logo, but in 2003 they had a complete redesign. They would return some red to their uniform, which was an improvement, but the rest was and is a mess. The logo is not as good. The piping and panels are too much. If I was running things down in Atlanta, they would immediately go back to a red helmet, which would allow for some sweet throwbacks. Plus add a stripe and clean up the uniforms with less piping and the other nonsense. The Falcons early uniforms through the 80s is one of my favorites and it would be great for them to go back.
2. Denver Broncos Worn Since 1997
It can be said that the Broncos were the first NFL team to be Nike-fied. In 1997 they switched from their light blue and Orange uniforms with the big D that they had worn since 1968. The new uniforms ditched the letter D and added a demonic horse to the helmets and Nike logo-like striping to the pants. The blue was switched to a deep navy and while they kept the orange elements, that color was demoted to a secondary color until they added an orange alternate jersey in 2002 and making it their primary jersey in 2012. The Broncos need to go back to their old colors with orange ad the primary color. They also need to switch back to the D logo, which was iconic and a great logo. It was great to see it when they brought it back for a couple games. If the went back to those full time it would be a marked improvement.
Philadelphia Eagles Worn Since 1996
The Eagles were another classic team that changed their uniforms quite often throughout their history. Changing the wing logo or to white helmets, but the one thing you could count on was that the Eagles wore kelly green. Although they went slightly darker during the late 70s and early 80s. The Kelly green was glorious and no matter what era, the uniforms the Eagles wore were always one of the best. Then in 1996 things went dark. Midnight green and black dark for the Eagles. The change was brought on by new Eagles owner Jeff Lurie. Just look at this article from the time of the change. The Eagles owner was quoted as saying the uniforms were evolutionary, while other boasted about how aggressive the uniforms were, referring to the to the old uniforms as stale and dated. (really?!) Gone was the silver and in was the ultra-trendy black and darker colors. Later on the Eagles would experiment with throwbacks. First in 2007 with the ill-conceived and largely panned 1934 throwbacks. Then in 2010 they finally brought back Kelly green as an alternate throwback, but this was put to an end as the NFL modified their uniform rules, allowing only one set of helmets paer team, thus ending the short lived era of kelly green. Since then people everywhere have hoped the Eagles would go back to Kelly Green as their primary color, but Jeff Lurie, evidently loves the darker color scheme and has no intentions in changing it. Instead he has taken up the fight to convince the NFL to modify their “one helmet rule” and allow the Eagles to wear kelly green again. As noble as this battle is, the Eagles are long past the five year mark with these uniforms and could change to full time kelly green at anytime. I guess Jeff just does not want to. I don’t care which uniform they decided to go with or wat style wing, but for the love of God, just go back to kelly green and do all of our eyes a favor.
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