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Jets Unveil Crummy Black Helmet to Go with Crummy Black Uni

The Jets today became the latest NFL team to reveal an alternate helmet, as they announced that they’ll wear a new black lid with their existing BFBS alternate uni for three home games this season: Oct. 30 against the Patriots; Nov. 27 against the Bears; and Dec. 22 against the Jags (a Thursday-night game). You can see lots of additional photos here.

This move makes one of the NFL’s worst uniforms even worse. Nice job, Jets!

The Jets are the 10th NFL team so far to add a second helmet color for 2022. The other nine are the Eagles (black alternate), Falcons (red throwback), Patriots (white throwback), Saints (black alternate), Commanders (black alternate), Texans (red alternate), Panthers (black alternate), Giants (navy throwback), and Cowboys (white throwback). In addition, we know the Bengals will be unveiling a white alternate soon.

 
  
 
Comments (75)

    So I know a lot of throwbacks were put on hold until 2023 (IE the Eagles, Bucs, etc)…what’s going to happen to these alternate helmets for those teams next year? Are they going to have three helmets? Or is this just a hype thing for 2022

    First of all the Bucs don’t have a second helmet this year. They’ll get a second helmet (Bucco Bruce throwback) next year. Simple.

    Eagles adding black helmet this year, but it will be replaced by the Kelly helmet next year. Or at least that’s what they’ve said.

    As an Eagles fan, I’m hoping they are doing an overhaul for the 2023 season and going back to Kelly Green full time. Their owner, Jeff Lurie, is the one who introduced the rule a few years back to allow for 2 helmets in order for the Eagles to have a Kelly Green helmet but the Eagles didn’t submit their design in time? Something fishy about that IMO. Either that’s just an enormous mistake by the Eagles or there’s more to it such as 2022, roll out a black helmet while KG uniforms are still being designed. 2023 full time KG with a black alternate. I could also be overthinking it entirely too much.

    Either way, it’s embarrassing for the team who presented the initial rule change in order to wear their throwbacks to then not have that uniform submitted/created in time.

    as much as we would all love the midnight green to go away forever have to remember these are the uniforms that won the super bowl. Yes the Kelly green is much better not even a debate. if they do a reboot make Kelly the primary and midnight secondary or alt what ever you want to call it but for the love of god get rid of the black.

    The Panthers black is the only one that is not BFBS. Really disappointing. I think you and Chris Creamer mentioned on your podcast that we might come to regret the two shell rule at some point. And I think that point is upon us!

    In my opinion, FWIW, the only teams who should have black as one of their primary colors are the Panthers, the Ravens, and the Raiders. For everybody else, it’s just BFBS.

    Paul- are you doing the multiple posts as they happen during the day? I take it that the intention is to still do a morning post, but there could be other ones later each day? I’m not complaining. Just adapting.

    Paul,

    It’s nice to have “up to the minute” updates on breaking uni-news like this but I hope it doesn’t hurt your work life balance. The uni world turns too fast now I hope you can build a good routine. I know there are a lot of folks like me who have been daily readers from the jump. I’d rather wait to read your analysis if it means not disrupting your balance, but I get business is business.

    Love the new site design!

    Thanks, Scott. I appreciate your concern! Don’t worry, I’ll try to maintain a routine that’s healthy for me as well as informative for you. Still an experiment in progress!

    I’m pleased to see some of the old helmet designs come back, but unfortunately the side effect of this new helmet rule is i’ll have to see terrible uniforms like the Jets and Panthers. The Jets could’ve redeemed themselves with white helmets & 1970’s uniform. This mono-black nonsense is garbage.

    I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the Jets to do a black helmet; there were rumblings that they’d do a black helmet going back to the ‘90s. Either way, it looks terrible.

    Agreed. There weren’t just rumblings of a black helmet in the 90’s, but going full black like the Falcons did. I recall a seeing a prototype helmet on SNY back in the day.

    Same and same. I loved the Jets’ uniform history until this redesign and it’s getting worse. It really sucks.

    Trash look. A Namath-era throwback would have gone over huge with their fans. Only 10 yr old boys and wannabe gangstas think blackout unis are cool.

    While I think it’s best to stop retreating to the Namath-era uniforms, this option is much much worse.
    One more reason why the Jets are “Jersey B”.
    Love the facemask color, though.

    I don’t particularly *like* the black uniforms, but I think if they’re going to have it, it’s far better with a black helmet. But I wish they’d done a white logo with green trim to match the numbers.

    I agree with this. It’s a better look than all black with green lids. Hope to see 80s throwbacks next year- Ken O’Brien, Joe Klecko era

    Agree. The black unis stink. For me the problem – which also affects the eagles – is that mostly black, with some medium-to-dark green mixed in is just visually uninteresting, and often hard to read.

    Further more, I’d get the stealth aesthetic much more if they’d done a tapered stripe from back to front over the top (broncos-style) and used the block italic “JETS” logo that has the jet flying over the top (you know the one, right?) rather than the soft font, gentle curve, nerf football one. Particularly because they didn’t even take care to put sharp corners on the outline. Just rounded edges.

    I don’t hate the jets black unis as much as some people (but I still recognize that their classic unis are far superior), but this black helmet is particularly awful. Obviously it remains to be seen how it looks on the field but I just doubt that the green logo will stand out on the helmet at all and it’ll just look like a black helmet with a tinge of green at a distance

    As a jets fan I’m fine with it as long as they don’t do what they did last year vs the colts (mix the black uniform with green and white)

    Is there anything lazier than the black helmet trend? What an ugly design. At least the Saints tried to be creative with the “stripe”? Nope, ugly. The majority of these helmets just look like made for consumer helmets you would buy at a card show. Even the Texans red helmet looks like a gift I could get at Champs Sports.

    Thank you NYG, NE and Dallas (Atlanta too but they just did a helmet) for taking advantage of this new rule and creating entire throwback uniforms rather than just adding a black helmet or swapping the color.

    Stay tuned for the Eagles black helmets later today or soon as they teased theirs on twitter today.

    Atlanta only needed to bring back the 1966-style throwback red helmet; they already had the rest of the 1966-style uniforms. But since they came back into their rotation in 2016 the Falcons had been forced to use the black helmets with them (just using the throwback decal). So they restored the full throwback uniform.

    I feel weird for writing this, but I like the black and green together. I like the facemask as well. However, it would be better suited to a new team that doesn’t have the wonderful Namath era look in their history. Furthermore, I like the colors, not the crappy logo they adopted 3 years ago. In summary: I like the colors and that’s it. Terrible swing and miss for the Jets organization

    It’s actually a really nice looking helmet. It would be great if the Jets historically had black and green as their colors. The problem is their colors have long been and should always be green and white. In context, this black helmet is totally unwelcome and unnecessary.

    It looks matte to me. I think the shiny visor throws it off. Look at the glare on back of the helmet, iy’s most notable there.

    Lee

    Saints – Black Alternate
    Eagles – Black Alternate
    Panthers – Black Alternate
    Jets – Black Alternate

    Have we gone back to the late 90’s or something?

    Pretty soon, all of the NFL is going to look like some dystopian remake of The Longest Yard — every team in BFBS with different colored trim, enough to show that the Jets are green, for example ….

    One more tidbit from their site (which was cringy to read)

    “The Jets will continue to be active with updates to their uniforms and several teams have already announced classic uniforms and helmets for the 2023 season.” Wonder what this means.

    How/why do teams continue to roll out these backstories on what inspired them? Do people believe them? Are we the only people who read them and discuss? The stealth fighter inspired the black helmet? No it didn’t. You wanted a black helmet.

    Well, from what I recall for 2023 you have:

    1. Seahawks back to blue/silver/green
    2. Bucs going back to Bucco Bruce and the creamsicles
    3. Philly going back to Kelly Green

    I thought there had been some discussion about Denver going back to the D with the horse logo on the early 70’s color scheme…I much prefer the orange helmet with the drunken mule.

    As awful as these look, gloss is would be so much better. There seems to be a trend towards matte by many NFL and MLB teams. To me it looks amateurish. The NFL and MLB is the cream of the crop and should shine.

    I know we’re not fans of BFBS unis here, but I actually thought they at least made the green chrome helmet pop. The all black helmet takes away the only thing I liked of the set. Can’t say I’m surprised, used to disappointment as a Jets fan!

    I miss the one shell rule.

    And I have been saying that for 2 years now. I am not sure what people were expecting. For every Patriots or Cowboys throwbacks, you get 10 black alternates.

    And I will bet anyone here today that the Eagles wear three different helmets next year. No way they buy a whole set of black helmets for 2022, wear them once or twice and then just dump them for Kelly green. Mark my words.

    Lee

    Lee, see my theory above about the Eagles.

    I think, and it’s just my thought, that they are going to do a full overhaul and go Kelly Green full time in 2023 and keep the black as the alternate. For the last 2 years, almost every Eagles social media post/image has now included some sort of bright Kelly or almost lime green accent. When paired with their current colors, it’s hideous. Check out their twitter header. They combine the colors. It’s odd. I’m probably looking way too in to it but just something I’ve noticed.

    link

    “I miss the one shell rule”

    I’m starting to agree-the genie is out and there’s no returning to the bottle.
    I originally (naively) wished for the rule to go away, thinking that allowing 2nd shells simply meant right-looking throwbacks for the teams that ‘needed’ them, never considering that certain teams would swing the design pendulum in the wrong direction with BFBS. Sigh.

    I believe Denver, Seattle, and Tampa are all pushed to 2023. Based on the 10 known, that leaves possibly 2 more to be announced (if the 15 number was correct).

    Do we know who those other 2 teams are?

    Paul, Why can’t the Jets just change the helmet logo( and fix the stripes on their jerseys and pants? That would minor alterations like the Niners adding a stripe. Would that violate the five year rule( which is silly) and contract with Nike?

    This is a crushing disappointment. Jets are so tone deaf to what the fans really want. An 80s faux back would have been so cool. Or just the old white helmet. Jets are getting hammered all over the internet over this so what else is new. I’m a season ticket holder and days like this are just so painful.

    Nobody thinks the Jets black unis are more hideous than I do. But once you have them, the black helmet makes a bit of sense.

    I will guarantee that at least 90% of the XFL helmets that get introduced whenever they get around to it will be better than this Jets helmet!

    Lee

    I know you hate BFBS. And the jets whole ensemble since their rebrand is dreadful. But there’s something about these helmets. The matte black, the candy green facemask, the logo in green stroked in white. It’s the one thing the jets have done right with what they’ve got. Do they need to rebrand to the 80’s logo and unis. Yes of course but this is the one instance I think they actually pull off BFBS.

    Looking at the pics in the announcement, the helmets don’t look glossy or matte. Are they…satin? Eggshell?

    Paul, any word on the 49ers going to a red shell to match their 50s throwbacks? I thought I had heard rumbles. I believe it would be sans SF logo and just a white middle stripe.

    Green helmet.
    White helmet.
    That’s all the Jets need.

    Black helmet? That’s right back into “J-E-T-S, JEST JEST JEST!” territory.

    Wish the Jets would just scrap their whole color scheme whether it’s green or black and just bring back the Titans color scheme, so much better!

    The black ensemble is bad enough, but subjecting your fans to that for almost half the home games? Don’t you like your fan base, Jets?

    This is a DII university look. Southwestern Central Kentucky or something. Good job Jets.

    I have no problem with the Jets black uni other than the sad lack of any actual plane references.

    Really stoked to hear someone lament on how crappy the Jets uniforms have become (mirrors the team itself).

    I’ve always said that the black Jets uniform looks like the weird fake jerseys they make in toddler sizes at Walmart. This helmet keeps with that theme.

    I don’t know, I feel like the Jet’s unis get too much hate. They are *a certain flavor* that, for some reason, I don’t completely hate. I don’t think they’re good, but they are committed. I think their dreadful BFBS unis now make sense with the helmet.

    Why can’t the 90s NBA just die already? The Jets could have done a 68 throwback or a sack exchange throwback but instead they roll out this piece of garbage. BFBS SUCKS!

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