Last week, I published an article about how fully one half of the 2024 NFL teams will wear a white helmet at some point this season, whether as part of their primary uniform or with an alternate look.
Longtime reader and contributor Marc Mayntz had his interest piqued by my piece, and he took it upon himself to graphically create alternate white helmets for the other sixteen teams who currently do not have white hats.
Now, I think we can all agree the NFL doesn’t need any more white helmets, but that doesn’t mean Marc can’t offer up suggestions. I have to be honest, I could definitely go for a couple of these, but I think about six or seven of the current teams with white alternates would need to ditch theirs first. Still some interesting concepts!
Let Marc know what you think in the comments below. Here’s Marc with …
by Marc Mayntz
Last week’s piece on half of the NFL helmets going to white-out conditions got me thinking “What if the league made it mandatory to go full on leucistic?” Sorry, no hype videos and my digital graphic design skills are neophyte at best. Short explanations of each helmet are as follows:
Atlanta Falcons
The original (best) Falcon with the modern color palette. The gold stripes from the original helmet frame the center stripe.
The original alternate raven head logo that the Eagles allegedly challenged for copyright infringement. Center stripe mimics the Maryland flag.
Another helmet using a secondary logo. Similar to the black helmet that the Panthers use, but more minimalist.
Basically a color inversion of their 1963 NFL Championship helmet.
I was hopeful that the Lions would bring back the lion from the Sixties in their new uniform set, but instead it gets used for their “Michigan Winter” helmet. The center striping matches the alternate “car” logo.
Basically their original helmet design with Oiler colors…oops…I mean H-Town Blues.
Moved the arrowhead to the center stripe and enlarged the letters. One color stands for Kansas, the other for Missouri. As for which is which, I leave that as an exercise for the reader.
In a move equivalent to pulling on Superman’s cape, I put the Raider inside the Vegas sign outline, complete with gold outline since the original color scheme was black and gold.
Like the Bears, basically a color inverse of their helmet from the late Sixties/early Seventies.
The Saints go marching into a full Mardi Gras theme, complete with tangled “beads” as a center stripe.
A mashup of their Super Bowl winning logos.
The most obvious next team to go white-shelled, if nothing more than to resurrect these beauties.
In a move equivalent to spitting into the wind, the Steelers logo is changed. Only one fan base would probably react even more negatively to their white helmet…
Given how well 49ers fans take to radically changing their logo (e.g. the one day logo of 1991), this would probably cause dogs and cats to live together in harmony.
There is only one way to make a Seahawks helmet.
I wanted to poach and recolor the Federals, but this works pretty well too.
On second thought, I made the Federals mock-up too.
Readers? What say you?
I love the Federals one. Signed, a child of 1980s Washington.
The original Federals’ uniforms would have made good Eagles’ uniforms in the multiverse.
The ‘83 Federals looked terrific…didn’t play that way.
Hmmm…assuming it hasn’t been done yet, a “what if the cities that had both an NFL and USFL franchise shared a color scheme” project might be interesting to see, no? Black/Red Houston Oilers and/or Columbia Blue/Red Gamblers anyone?
I had the VHS tape of “Pro Football Follies” where the Feds futility got its own segment including:
-giving up a last second 98 yard TD pass to Arizona
-ending one yard short of the game tying TD in Oakland
-being on the losing end of a walk off 50 yard FG to New Jersey
Agreed with the eagles connection. I was always surprised that there was not some sort of copyright infringement by making a green and white team with an eagle and wings on the helmet.
Also, with Philly and DC in the same NFL division, who would want to wear merch so similar to their rivals.
Raiders one looks like Trash, You need to stick to the regular shield logo , or the ’63 logo, and solid black stripe down the middle with a white facemask.
I’m sure you could use your big boy words and come up with a better way of saying that.
Actually, I appreciate the attempt to Vegas it up with the shape of the welcome sign. And the Oilers’ colors really work with Houston’s logo. Fun exercise, Marc!
I think if the Raiders actually went white shelled in any way, it would look like trash regardless of what was on the side.
Facts.
You can only make that mess look less messy, not good.
Some intersting ideas: Atlanta, Rams, Eagles and Seahawks should look into this. Maybe Washington as well.
There are some good designs here, and some that I just can’t make myself like. As a Raiders fan, I have to say no. Just no. I do like the Falcons design, but the gold would all but disappear on anything other than a close up shot.
I was at the Boston Breakers’ very first home game (against the Federals), and I was STUNNED at the beauty of both uniforms. Glad they keep showing up here! I’m also a little fascinated at the flirting with purple, green, and gold flourishes with the Saints’ gold and black. Somehow they gotta make that work! And oh, seeing the Eagles helmet again brings back Roman Gabriel, single-bar memories.
As a Saints fan….please, dear god, may something in that vein never see the light of day.
I do actually think they’ll add a white shell next year when they can add a third to make the much-loved Color Rush set all-white – I know I was hoping that our alternate helmet would be something like that instead of the black atrocity that Sean Payton helped design before “retiring.” Hopefully they match the golds when they do it, too.
OK, so here’s what happened with the Saints.
I started off playing it straight, black fleur, gold outline, but the gold just became overwhelmed with the white. I reversed it, but now the gold looked brown instead of gold!
It may have just been a me thing, but that particular rgb code + white just looked off no matter what I tinkered. So rather than be slightly off, I went way off.
The Falcons actually flirted with a white helmet in the early 1970s:
link
…glad they came to their senses!
For whatever reason, that ’74 prototype kind of jumped out at me. I like the red trim around the falcon.
Now, I will emphasize that for only this project, that would be a nice upgrade, along with a little wider gold stripes.
Bottom line, give me the red Falcons helmet any time!
Why are the Rams horns thin? Is it a design choice?
Looks terrible
Design choice, closer to the original horns.
YMMV
I can see it for the Commies, Texans, Rams, and of course the Eagles. In a different context the Bears and KC. And I actually love the Saints helmet, or what it could be, but not for a black and gold team. I think this would be perfect for a modern WFL team in New Orleans.
What would this white LA Rams helmet look like on the field?
It is the helmet for a Canadian Junior Football League team. The Langley Rams in the BCFC.
link
I swear I did not poach this helmet! :)
I always thought the Ravens would look great with a white helmet. This may be the closest we get to it – great work!
Thank you!
The original Texans helmet, when they first announced the team name, was white. There are pics from the event. They switched it to Navy once they revealed the uniforms.
Yes. I included a photo of the white helmet in the piece I wrote last week (linked in this article at the top)
Would absolutely love to see the Texanoilers wear that helmet.
[whispers into the wind] I kind of dig the Saints, Chiefs, and Steelers as well.
White helmets are lame. They all look the same. It’s a easy way out. That’s why home teams wear their colored uniform. Because every team can wear white but not every team has their colors.
White helmets are… bad, actually? With a very few exceptions.
Thanks Marc! Good concepts.
The only good one is the Iggles. Because they did it before.
Nice job.
I really like the mashup of the NY Giants logo.
Also, I don’t remember seeing this secondary logo for the Panthers, and it looks great.
What about the Patriots?
New England already has the throwback helmet.
link
Teams that should have white helmets: Dolphins, Colts, Chargers and Cardinals. Pats and Bucs with throwbacks. And that’s it.
I understand alternate jerseys (merch sales) but who buys a helmet (Real or replica)?
Unless you’re on board with the Titans getting a Luv Ya Blue bucket…I’d say they looked better with white ones over their current navy.
I’ll throw in NYJ and Dallas for teams that ought to retain their throwback/legacy/what-have-you helmet designs too.
I don’t understand the love for the Eagles in a white helmet. Swapping the colors makes it a boring design somehow, and the actual white had the Iggles rocked in the 70’s was during one of the worst stretches the franchise has had.
That’s not to say a white helmet design in inherently bad. There are some nice examples above! Actually, I’d say all of them are cool concepts! But I’d rather never see NOLA or San Fran going with a white helmet, even for an alternate. Context within the overall uniform and design language of a franchise is what makes a white helmet a good looking helmet, imo.
The Rams and Eagles actually wore the white helmets shown here back in the ’60s.
Not the Rams.
The Rams did have a blue and white helmet, but not a white helmet with blue horns — it was the opposite of that. They wore it from 1964-72
link
The 49ers have had white helmets in the past… ’46, ’47, ’56, and white lids would actually look much better with their current throwbacks than the gold/red/white mismash they go for.
But the concept here looks unbalanced with the use of colours and the SF in red… and while I think the plain helmet they had in ’56 is also a no go – I think using the throwback logo (without the gold) would work a treat.
There is only one way to make a Seahawks helmet. And this ain’t it.
I love some of these helmet stripes you came up with. I would be fascinated to see that Maryland flag inspired one on the field. And the Raiders logo change was a great choice, it works really well.
With how often the Seahawks use their grey jerseys and pants, I wonder how a matte grey helmet helmet in the same hue would pair, not necessarily as grey, grey, grey, but I think grey helmet with blue jersey and grey pants or grey helmet with grey jersey and blue pants would look decent