Plus, a plan to fix the Saints uniforms going forward
When the New Orleans Saints take on the Kansas City Chiefs this evening for Monday Night Football, they’ll be wearing their “Color Rush” uniforms, with their alternate black helmet, which was introduced in 2022.
The uniform was introduced all the way back in 2016, when the NFL was under Nike’s grand plan to give every team a solid color uniform to be worn for Thursday Night Football games.
While never intended as a throwback, the old gold striping and numbers was meant to evoke the original Saints’ white jersey look from their inaugural season in the NFL.
It was generally very well received, and folks at the time thought this might signal a return to the old gold the team had once worn, but had over the years morphed into more of a metallic or Vegas gold. Of course, the CR uniform was paired with the Saints regular helmet, which was decidedly not old gold, but still the fact that Nike could produce the more appealing shade of gold gave uni lovers hope that maybe changes to the Saints uniforms were afoot.
Such was not the case.
The Saints would continue to wear the CR fauxbacks at least once a season every year since.
In 2022, to the joy of many, the NFL ended the “single shell rule,” allowing teams to wear alternate helmets for the first time in a decade. The Saints were one of the first teams to jump on the alt-helmet train, introducing an alternate black shell which they would pair with their CR alternates. And while the specs didn’t change, it appeared that their uniform numbers and stripes took on an even more old gold tint.
While the CR uniform was originally designed to be one color (in the Saints’ case, all white), over the years the NFL became more and more lax when it came to hosiery (it’s now basically a free-for-all — not just for CR uniforms, but for all uniforms). That led the Saints to giving players the option to pair the CR uniform with black socks.
This produced a much better looking uniform. Of course, not all the players would wear the black socks, but for those who did, it made for a beautiful sight.
The Saints are one of those NFL teams who are long overdue for a redesign, and they already have two uniforms that they should either wear permanently, or use as the basis of a redesign.
Two you say? Yes, because, off and on since 1994(!), the Saints have also occasionally worn actual throwbacks, which are similar to, but distinct from, their normal uniforms.
When it comes to the black throwbacks, the Saints have been one of the most inconsistent teams in terms of usage. They’ve worn them exactly eight times since 1994. Here are those wearings.
- 1994 (twice), against the Bucs and Giants
- 2002, against the Bucs
- 2011 (twice), against the Bucs and Texans
- 2016, against the Lions
- 2022, against the Rams
- 2023, against the Panthers
Now, most people with eyes would agree that the throwback is a much superior uniform compared to the Saints’ regular home uniform. The one obvious flaw, of course, is the shade of gold on the helmet isn’t even close to that on the jerseys and pants. So, the first thing the Saints would need to do is to fix that (easier said than done, I know).
So my proposal for the Saints redesign, going forward is pretty simple: fix it so that the gold helmet match the gold used on the jerseys and pants. And it is entirely possible to make the helmet in an old gold shade, as Vanderbilt has shown.
If the Saints make that one change, they would already have the makings of a very solid uniform set. They would be then be able to pair the black jerseys with white pants, and the white jerseys with gold pants. Since the team seems to love going all-black at home, the could add a pair of striped black pants, like those worn back between 1976 and 1985.
The team could then create an alternate uniform using the throwback black jerseys and pants, and pair that with the black alternate helmet (much the way the Panthers have done).
The Saints not only love going all-black at home, they seem to love going all-white on the road. In fact, after wearing gold pants for all three pre-season games this year, they’ve worn their all-black ensemble three time, and the all-white once. We’ve yet to see their gold pants in a regular season game in 2024.
If they were to make the current CR their primary road, they could continue the all-white without any adjustments.
And because this is the NFL, where it seems every team must have at least one alternate, the team could reintroduce a gold jersey, which was worn for exactly one game in 2002, against the Vikings.
That would provide the team with several different uniform options, all of which would be better than their current offerings. In fact, back when I was doing my “2+3+2+3” Project, I had created new throw/fauxbacks for the Saints based exactly on these ideas:
I think most of us would agree that the Saints, especially when they go all-black or all-white, have one of the worst uniforms in the NFL, but they also have at their disposal all the tools to do a redesign using the throw/fauxbacks as a good starting point.
I’m looking forward to the Saints in their CR uniforms tonight (and hoping a majority of the players go with black socks). Let’s hope it’s a taste of what’s to come!
Your thoughts?
To me, the newer gold is a much nicer colour. Old gold works in moderation (numbers, sleeve stripes, etc.), but as a solid piece it looks quite ugly, such as on the pants or helmet.
Gold pants with the white jersey too, or even white pants. Not a fan of their black pants at all. I think black (or navy pants even) only work well when balanced with a black helmet, otherwise it creates a bottom-heavy appearance on the uniform. While I’d prefer the old gold as well, just give us that jersey design with any shade of gold.
I’ve always thought teams that have their helmet logo on their jersey sleeves just create a redundant look, Saints are perfect example, the sleeve stripes look so much better.
Also that’s a great photo for the lede, I love the way the Bucs endzone reflects off the visor, their wordmark font and the distortion of the reflection creates a neat graffiti like feel.
The black helmet has issues – at least for me – but it is based on a great concept. I like the saints in a black helmet. I like the fleur de lis as a texture/pattern in the stripe. The stripe should remain a consistent width from front to back rather than tapering off to mimic the top of a fleur de lis. The stripe should also not clip the elements at the edges of the stripe but be planned properly so all the fleur de lis shapes are whole along the edge of the stripe. Then take the fleur de lis logo off the side and replace it with their saints or Nola wordmarks. Now just to go a step farther, make the face mask gold.
With a black helmet pants or jersey:
white-gold-white stripes would look cleaner than gold-white-gold stripes (as seen on Archie’s pants)
On an unrelated note, are we going to get an NHL Season preview this year? Thanks.
Unfortunately, not this year. I had tried to enlist the services of one of our more (much more than I) knowledgable UWers and it just didn’t work out. Next year definitely! (Sorry)
Phil your concepts are great with S at bits uni’s but one thing, you need stripes on helmet and pants in all concepts. Just looks dull. Also can the Saints increase the size of logo on helmet. Looks ultra small. Thanks
Thanks Dom.
The template I used doesn’t allow for showing side views of the pants, but I assure you, the stripes are there. Black/white/black on the golds and white/gold/white on the black pants.
The striped socks in some of the photos look amazing. Too bad the league is going away from stiped socks. Hopefully we see some of that tonight.
I would kill for a redesign for the Saints. You’re exactly right – they have all the pieces there! It’s frustrating because they’re the black and GOLD, but they rarely accentuate the actual gold instead off relegating it to number accents.
Hell yeah. Love your re-design.
As a Georgia Tech fan I am very familiar with the travails of getting the “right” gold and having it match everywhere.
Also as a Tech fan, I dislike the Falcons UGA color scheme. As a sop to us, the Falcons have 2 gold stripes on their throwback red helmets. I wish they could find a way to incorporate gold without making people think of the Saints.
It baffles me how the Saints could ever manage to not look great, but they always seem to find a way. They have every element they need for a top-tier uniform in every situation. That pattern on the black alternate helmets still looks like some sort of a joke that got approved by mistake.
I hope #94 didnt tackle anyone in the photo studio.
Being a Saints fan since their inception, I think going back to the Old Gold would be grand. To me, the Vegas Gold doesn’t pop the way the throwback gold does. I also think that the fleur-de-lis should be bigger on the helmet. Heck Nike made Tampa’s helmet logo huge, so why not?
Now if your excuse me, I gotta get those dang kids offa my lawn…
Can the Saints PLEASE do one of two things:
1) basically be the black version of the 49ers. Classic gets the job done just fine.
2) Wear gold-gold-white (w/stripes)-black for every game. That would be really fun.
This is all fine on paper, but give all this to the Saints, and all you’re going to get is white-on-white with white leggings, and black-on-black with black leggings. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.
OLD GOLD pants would be awesome for the Saints to wear with either the black or white jersey . . . they’re one of the few teams I allow to wear black since it’s a team color but black on black is too much for me . . . as is white on white!!!
I’ve never seen those gold, white-striped Saints helmets used in a game and I’ve tried to look up photos from their first season but there are none with just one white stripe.
That was a pre-season photo spread for SI. They didn’t use those specific helmets in game play.
Yeah I should have finished up my thought by saying it’s a really good look and an updated version (one white stripe) on the color Rush with gold shell would be fantastic.
The Saints’ current White on White is HOT garbage. The Color Rush Whites look great, however. I agree that the answer is to go back to the original 1967 Black with Gold pants and the helmet should be changed back to the gold that matches the pants and numbers. I am totally on board with making an alternate gold jersey to be worn with the black pants. I’d also be ok with wearing the 1967 black jersey with black pants with the stripes from the late 70’s early 80s.
“2023 against the Panthers” reveals the funniest pic… love it!
Longtime Saints fan here.*
My all-time favorite unis have long been the Saints’ original ’67-69 jerseys with the gold numbers — especially the white jerseys — and the original gold helmets and the larger fleurs-de-lys. (Also, the original ’69 preseason black helmets.) And I was thrilled to see the throwbacks in ’94, but they never made them available for sale. (I recently went to eBay and got a black Mitchell & Ness William Roaf replica.)
The current Color Rash unis are fantastic, and the white pants work great with them, but they have to ditch the dopey patterns on the black helmets and give us the ’69 look. And the black throwbacks are perfect as well, much better than the regular black ones they’ve been wearing since ’96. But throwbacks or not, they have to do something about the gold helmets. They don’t shine the way the old-school ones did; in some lights, they look just plain flat plastic, no glimmer.
Actually, the throwbacks (and Color Rashes) need one big improvement: a return to the tackle-twill numbers instead of Nike screening the numbers and stripes. But hey, at this point, I’m happy that they seem to almost be on the right track.
* Full disclosure: I’m also a longtime Giants fan. (Hey, I reserve my right as a Gemini.) Been following (and originally suffering with) the Giants since I started watching the game in 1970, pre-cable days here in CT. Also became a Saints fan during my first visit to NOLA in December ’86 — the first years of Mills, Hebert, Johnson, Mayes and Mora as Saints, when they came back from 31-10 at the half and almost beat Miami.
New Orleans area native here. Take the black pants and the plain white pants, put them in a River Parishes Disposal dumpster, and set the whole thing ablaze. Then toss anyone who wants the Aaron Brooks single game special gold jerseys right in afterwards as a sacrifice to the football gods.
Joking aside, though I like the color rush white pants, I’d prefer they went Raiders and have one pair of pants—gold. I don’t mind the current jerseys with the fleurs, but stripes are better. I’d prefer an old gold to differentiate ourselves from the (formerly hated rival) Niners, but am fine with the current gold provided Nike actually can provide shiny pants (good luck). When they switched to the smaller double outlined fleur on the helmets, I welcomed it. These days, I prefer the old larger version, though the old one also represents years of futility while the new one has seen a lot more success (though that is changing under Dennis Allen).
Lastly, since this is 2024 and I’m not going to win the no black pants battle, go whole hog and go full black (ideally with gold topped socked) using the 1967 throwbacks and their stripes as a guide. Replace the Louis Vuitton field of fleurs stripe with an inverse of the classic stripe a la the 1969 preseason black helmets. Under no circumstances wear the black pants with any other look. You’re welcome, Gayle.
Now tear it all down, it’s long past time now that Drew is living the retired life.
Love these ideas, especially bringing back all those beautiful stripes the Saints used to wear.
A lot of views on how teams should look derive from when you first saw them.
So the mid 90s Saints was perfect.
The older gold looks wrong, and no need for white or black pants. (gold pants only ’86 to 2000).
That said, I don’t mind this colour rush look, as it is a good way to do an alt helmet and get black into the road unis. Get all the weird stuff done together, and it isn’t trying to be anything else!
Saints won a super bowl with their current set, I don’t see why they need to change. not like those stripes are particularly unique either
The black helmets can go. I like our colors finding their way into the realm of classics like the 9ers, packers, raiders. The helmets should ALWAYS be gold. Gold is just such a great look for helmets — don’t mess with a good thing there. The other jersey/pants combos could be interesting to refresh. #WhoDat