First there were hints. Then, yesterday, there was a leak. And now the NFL’s worst-kept secret has become official: The Browns have brought back the white facemask and the high-gloss shells.
The Browns originally wore white masks from 1975 through 2005. They then switched to grey in 2006 and to brown in 2015. But they’ve revived the white facemasks for one home game in each of the last two seasons, moves that have been popular with fans. At one point in 2022, team exec J.W. Johnson tweeted that he agreed with fans who have been clamoring for the team to wear white facemasks full-time. However, he noted that “there is a process, so be patient.”
Have heard enough and agree! There is a process so be patient. GO BROWNS!
— JW Johnson (@JDubsIII) December 16, 2022
That patience has now been rewarded.
Personally, I love this move. The white always looked better. And kicking the brown masks to the curb is the NFL’s latest repudiation of Nikefication, because the brown masks were a remnant from the team’s disastrous 2015 makeover. The team had scrapped most of that in 2020, and now they’ve scrapped the last vestige of it.
It remains to be seen if the team’s white alternate helmet, which debuted last year with a brown mask, will also get a white cage.
Because the team’s primary logo is just a rendering of its helmet, the logo has likewise been updated, as you can see by looking at the team’s social media avatar.
I also commented this on the ticker, but in what world does “A New Era of Browns Football Returns.” even make sense? Buzzwords for buzzwords sake.
For any other team that would be nonsense, but somehow it makes perfect sense for the Browns ;)
My beloved Brownies haven’t won it all in 60 years, but the hype video that accompanied the announcement belongs in the Marketing Bullshit Hall of Fame. It’s a NEW ERA, baby! (If I knew how to do links, I’d link to it. You can find it on cleveland.com)
Can’t wait until they take another quantum leap and announce what color shoelaces they’ll be wearing.
Love seeing this as a Cleveland native and multi generational Browns fan. Earliest football memories were watching my parents lose their minds with Brian Sipe and Ozzy Newsome. It is as it should be. I know some like the grey face masks but to me it’s just so dull and a severe downgrade compared to the white.
I may be biased. But I believe the Browns now have one of the best looks in the league. On par with the Raider and Packers. We often define a classic look with success and it’s been 35 years since the Browns were truly a force in the NFL. But from the 40s-90s the Browns were a stalwart franchise. Their duds are worthy of consideration for top 5 in the league. Embrace the ugly brown and orange.
The Browns dobhave a classic look. But they keep screwing it up by doing stupid stuff like going monotone. Brown jersey, white pants is an absolute classic that I would agree is on par with anyone in the league. Same for white jersey, orange pants. But they can’t stop themselves from messing it up.
I have a number of Browns fans who love the orange lids, brown jerseys and white pants look, but “classic” or not, they look best with orange pants. Always, home or away. Orange/Brown/Brown (Mr. Hankey look) is awful of course, but I hate the orange/white/white combo in particular.
Agreed – brown jersey over orange pants might be the best uniform in the league. But I disagree – I like white over white way more than brown over white. The white on white just looks great, especially when it gets dirty and grass-stained.
Umm… “the team’s disastrous 2015 makeover” was mostly “scrapped … in 2015” ?
Thanks. Fixed.
I though the brown masks were an upgrade. The white is better than gray though.
Did you all see that Riddell posted this helmet in an Axiom model with an eyebrow bar? They have never shown that before, as far as I know. It looks terrible! link
A helmet/logo reveal with a corporate sponsor…what a time..
Re: “And kicking the brown masks to the curb is the NFL’s latest repudiation of Nikefication, because the brown masks were a remnant from the team’s disastrous 2015 makeover.” I thought in the interview with the Nike designer he mentioned that Nike actually didn’t design almost any of the helmets in their redesigns?
Right, but it was still part of that uniform set.
Gotcha, that makes sense.
I honestly prefer the brown facemask. Works really well with the orange helmet
I have no issue with the logo-less helmet but it really seems like the Browns should have a primary logo that isn’t just a drawing of their helmet at this point.
They have that orange peter pan looking thing they roll out every now and then.
I liked this as a Browns logo. Could/should have been the primary I think. link
That football shaped logo is good, and we look good on a helmet, but the inconsistency of the gap in the stripes in front of and behind the B is horrendous.
Better than brown but the Browns still need a team logo, even if not on the helmet.
I’m fine with it. I’m not a Browns fan, so I don’t really care that much.
I liked the matte finish for them, but I didn’t feel strongly about it. I’m in the minority that really likes the Browns in grey facemasks (I like grey facemasks), but I can understand why people might prefer the alternatives.
I like when the Browns lean into the more plain, generic aspects of their look. It’s refreshing to me to see a design that isn’t over-designed.
Just listened to JW Johnson (Son-in-Law to the Haslams/ EVP of the Browns) on a local radio show here discussing the Browns switch to the white helmets, he said something VERY interesting:
RE: going back to the white mask / updating the logo:
“Like I said, I just think it just gets us back to our roots. It’s a big process and working with the NFL, and they’ve been really helpful with us, but it just took a little longer than we would have expected”
He goes on to say this JUICY TIDBIT
“We would have loved to have them(white masks) last year, but we’re glad to have them back, and we’ll continue to listen to our fans as much as we can on new initiatives and ideas, and look, we have the ability to potentially have a third helmet going into next year and that’s probably something we’re going to explore as well”
a 3rd helmet?
I can’t tell if I’d love (because people would hate it) or hate a brown shell. It would just feel wrong.
My prediction, while it would be less distinct from a glossy main shell, is that chrome orange would make the most sense – maybe with an orange facemask. It keeps the core elements of the classic browns look, but would be a fun alt and not something they’d do consistently. Would just be funny to make an alt helmet only change the finish.
Happy to see high gloss come back. If only Baseball would get back to high gloss.
Glad the Browns realized all of the uniform mistakes they previously made and went back to what works. Kudos to both them and Tampa Bay for fixing wrongs. What I find interesting with the Browns is the helmet they use for their logo is no longer used in the NFL. We’ve seen helmet logos evolve over time from one-bar and two-bar facemasks and to the most “modern” being what the Browns use.
I wonder if they will ever change the helmet logo to reflect what helmets are currently being worn. There are so many helmet models being worn now so it might not ever happen. I prefer the current style used for the logo.
My favorite matchups each year are Pittsburgh @ Cleveland and Cleveland @ Pittsburgh, and when we’ve been especially good they give us a playoff matchup as well. Now if the Steelers would just “return to a new era” and ditch the italics.
Is it just me, or does that picture make it look like a combo of matte and gloss finish?
Not sure, but I think that photo is a uni watch version of the new helmet…if you click on the link, there are glossy versions on the Browns feed….
Actually, that pic is taken directly from this photo gallery on the Browns’ website: link
Hey, I see that now, … the 4 14 17 and 24 photos are all copyright 2022 and resemble the old helmet while most of the other photos are all copyright 2024 and are all clearly gloss finish…
That’s odd that those images got mixed in together…
Oh, wow — that *is* surprising! I hadn’t noticed the copyright dates. Good spot!
Much better look!
1000% better
Just a technicality but the last finish was actually a satin (rather than matte).
The post never claimed that they were matte.
My apologies. Every where else I am reading matte