Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good Monday. If you haven’t yet voted, please do so!
Last week, I took a look at what would happen if teams whose uniforms are BFBS decided to mix and match their BFBS elements with their primary uniforms. I think that showed that while one or two combos might look all right, by and large, BFBS is designed to be a uniform unto itself.
But what would happen if teams decided to mix and match their Color Rush uniforms with their primary uniforms? It’s a bit of a loaded question, since very few teams have their original “CR” uniforms, so I decided to slightly expand this exercise to include teams with alternate helmets (which technically are only supposed to be worn with alternate jerseys), or alternate uniforms that are not necessarily designed to be mixed and matched. The results were interesting. Like the BFBS piece, this isn’t designed to argue for or against the mix/match, but rather to see what combos might be possible. You’ll be surprised that some of these might actually work, while others should never be worn. Like the BFBS project, the only rules were jerseys and pants can’t be the same color, and pants and socks must be different colors.
Graphic templates from the wonderful Gridiron Uniform Database.
Let’s take a look.
AFC East
Only two teams in the AFC East have alternate/color rush uniforms, the Bills and Jets. The Dolphins and Patriots both have throwbacks, but no alternates.
BUFFALO BILLS
The Bills have had their CR unis longer than any other team, playing in the first ever color rush game against the Jets back in 2015. I always thought the Bills red jerseys and pants were prime candidates to mix/match with their white and blue jerseys/pants. In fact, when Josh Allen first teased a red helmet, he was wearing the red jersey over white pants. I was also surprised the team didn’t introduce a red helmet when the one shell rule was dropped. Neither has (yet) happened, but how would the Bills look if they mixed and matched? I’m not so sure I loved the red/blue pairings, but I think they’d look great if they paired the red jersey with white pants, or the white jersey with red pants.
Should They Do It? YES!
The first image was actually part of the “BFBS Mix Match” article, but the second shows a mix/match with the white elements as well. I’m not sure if the Jets BFBS uni is actually considered CR, but either way, it is an alternate. Unlike the Bills, the Jets have two helmets as well as a full alternate uni, so the number of possible combos is greater. Of those 8 possible combos, I’m not sure any really looks good, although the green/black/green/black might work if the green pants had black stripes. The black/white mix and matches might work due to all the stripes being green, but the Jets don’t need any black in their color scheme.
Should They Do It? NO!
AFC North
Three teams in the AFC North either have a CR or alternate, and two have multiple helmets: The Ravens, Bengals and Steelers (who don’t have a second helmet).
BALTIMORE RAVENS
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The Ravens have both a CR and an alternate helmet, and they’ll wear that combo this Thursday night, in fact. But what if they paired their primary uniforms with the new purple helmet? In the linked article, the team wore both their purple and white jerseys with the new purple helmets (they were breaking the helmets in), and I thought they looked pretty good paired up. And to complete the exercise, I paired the color rush elements with the black helmets and either primary jerseys or pants. Those combos don’t look all that much different from many of the combos they already wear, the difference being the CR pants have a white/gold/white stripe, whereas their regular purple pants have a black/white/black stripe. The jerseys are different as well, with the CR featuring mostly gold elements, including numbers. Of those four combos (second image), I think the only one that works better than their regular unis would be black/purple/black, since the black pants have no stripes. There’s nothing wrong with the second set, per se, but their regular unis work better with the black helmet than the CR pieces do. But as far as pairing the purple CR helmet with the regular unis? Yes, please.
Should They Do It? Indeed. Love to see it.
The Bengals are a bit of an odd case, as they don’t really have a CR uniform (although they do have an alternate orange jersey, and added orange pants this year). And they do have the alternate white bengal helmet. So I wanted to see how the white helmets would look with the multiple combos the team has. I have to say, I don’t like it — I love the white bengal look, but I don’t like the white helmet with any color elements. Just for fun, I wanted to see how the orange pants would look with the white jerseys (a combo they haven’t yet worn), and I do like that with the orange helmets. So those are why the two orange helmet combos are in the above graphics.
Should They Do It? Nope.
Like the Bills, the Steelers don’t have an alternate helmet, but they do have a CR uniform. The difference, though, is the CR jersey is the same color as their regular home jersey (although it is distinctly different). So for this exercise, I will pair the CR pants with their home, road and throwback black jerseys, and pair the CR jersey with the gold pants. I don’t really love the throwback or primary black jersey with black pants, and while it would “work,” I’m not a fan of the white jersey/black CR pants. I do, however, LOVE the CR jersey with their regular gold pants. I wouldn’t mind seeing that once.
Should They Do It? Yes, but only the CR jersey.
AFC South
Three teams in the AFC South would fix the mix/match criteria: Houston, Indianapolis and Jacksonville.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
The Jaguars introduced a new white helmet this year, and they’ll actually be debuting it this weekend. And with three jerseys and three pants (I’m not sure any qualifies as “color rush” per se, but for our purposes, let’s say the mono-teal is their CR), we can create a bunch of new combos. Since they basically mix/match all their uniform elements with the current black helmet, I threw together a bunch of combos with the new white helmet. I refuse to pair it with the all-white elements for that Icy White look, but wanted to see how it looks with all the other combos (except monos). I kinda like it with the teal jersey and white pants, but honestly, that’s about it — although I want to see how the white helmets look on the field. The Jags don’t need more combos, what they need is a redesign (and promoting their throwback to their primary home/adding a white jersey for a road set).
Should They Do It? No.
The Colts don’t have a CR uniform, although their “Indiana Nights” uniform qualifies them for this exercise. The Indiana Nights uni isn’t designed to be mixed and matched, but for the hell of it, I did so anyway. Because the helmet is black (and there is not black whatsoever on their primary unis), it really doesn’t work with the other unis. They could probably get away with pairing the IN blue pants with their regular white shell and white jersey, but even that’s a stretch.
Should They Do It? Hell no.
OK, so this one is just a trainwreck. Because the Texans redesigned this year, they have three shells and two completely separate alternates. Those are the “H-Town Alternate” and the “Red Alternate” (which will debut this weekend). The Texans don’t need to mix and match (they already have enough unis), but I wanted to see how pieces of the Red Alternate (especially the helmet) would pair with their primaries, and because the H-Town Alternate has a jersey with red numbers, mixed and matched those as well. I probably should have just kept the genie in the bottle.
Should They Do It? Not in a bazillion years.
AFC West
The Chiefs and Raiders don’t have any alternates (thankfully), so only the Chargers and Broncos would qualify.
DENVER BRONCOS
Like the Texans, the Broncos unveiled new uniforms for the 2024 season, and their white helmet and blue jersey (which can be paired with blue, white or orange pants) are their alternates. Since they technically can’t wear the white helmet with the white jersey or orange jersey, I wanted to see how those combos would work. Similarly, they’re not supposed to pair their blue helmet with their blue jersey, so I mocked that up as well. All of the combos would mix/match, but I’ve never liked the Broncos in a white helmet. They’ve already got enough combos as it is, so mix/match is just overkill. And just for kicks, I wanted to see how the blue helmet looks with the blue jersey. The blue/blue/white/blue is very reminiscent of their former alternate. You may feel differently, but to me the Broncos are a blue helmet/orange jersey or blue helmet/white jersey team. The white helmet doesn’t say “Broncos” to me at all.
Should They Do It? Nah. They’re good.
OK, so the second graphic could never happen, since the team ditched their royal blue CR uni this season. Their only alternate now is the dark navy. That and the royal CR uni were both not designed to mix and match (the helmet, jersey and pants striping are different) with their primary powder blue and white jerseys (and white and gold pants). So no mix/match here. But, if they could ever fix the striping, I LOVE how the royal jersey and gold pants go together. It’s almost the look the team wore from 1974-1982 (they paired that with a royal blue helmet). But I think that’s a sharp look. Too bad it can’t happen unless the team redesigns to make the royal pair with the gold.
Should They Do It? No.
What do you think? Should the NFL relax its uniform rules even further to permit alternate helmets/uniforms or color rush uniforms to be co-mingled? Do any of the above concepts work for you? Again, the point of this isn’t to necessarily advocate for or against mixing and matching, only to see what combos might be possible if it were.
Love to have your thoughts.
Week 2 1997! Dolphins over the newly named Tennessee Oilers
Sadly they didn’t wear the Luv Ya Blue tops at their new homes (maybe they considered themselves a ‘road’ team since their Nashville stadium wasn’t completed yet?) – and they’d wear those just once more at Dallas …possibly the Oilers were ‘forced’ into them as the ‘Phins and ‘Boys wore white at home.
The Oilers wore white over white exclusively the following year before the rebrand.
Let’s be honest – they never should have deviated from these.
In past years, Uniwatch fully covered purple neckties for election coverage, so I’m not sure there is much about today worth another article.
GTGFTS – Super Bowl XII – some where out of frame Danny White is kissing a cheerleader.
Optimal Texans uniform is navy helmet, red jersey, white pants, red socks. But not this current set and shade of navy or red, but their original set. Maybe throw a red facemask on the helmet to give it some more color.
Greg, you are correct sir! It frustrated me to no end they didn’t try this combo last season. I would add I think last year’s red helmet over navy jersey, white pants, navy socks might be even better. The AFC South has a severely drab collection of helmet colors with three out of four helmets being dark navy/black. A standard red helmet would brighten things up. Actually the whole league could use an extra red standard helmet or two IMO.
Yeah, I think both the Bills and Falcons should go back to red helmets full time, with blue and black jerseys respectively.
I think the Texans in navy/red/white would be unique. Their navy helmet over the navy jersey was far too drab, and just too similar to the Bears for it to be a recognizable identity for the Texans.
Especially now that Tennessee wears navy shirts and helmets too.
Yukk no way I’ll hate it Because my favorite uniform combo is All white uniforms That would suck Don’t even mention it Throw this article away All white uniforms are clearly best professional clean look great on TV So answer is No way
Texans need to ditch that red horn helmet asap. For all the talk about how the sleeve horns are correct because a charging bull’s horns would appear to be pointed forward, they sure went and put the horns backward on the helmet, and that’s just my technicality complaint. The whole thing looks dopey anyway.
Keep the red helmet and wear it with the blue jersey and white pants. It would be their best look ever.
I was very disappointed when the Texans didn’t switch to red as their primary color for the recent redesign. (My 3yo son has decided red is his favorite color, and I’m a Texans and Notre Dame fan, so that would have given us a red team to cheer for.) If they wore their red pants with their home blue, and even more so with the road white, my enthusiasm for it would match this site’s overall enthusiasm (which I share) for Denver’s orange pants.
At the very least, the Texans should bring back the red socks from the first 3(?) seasons of their history.
I actually think some of these uniforms could work.
Bills – white/red/white/red
Ravens – purple/purple/white/purple
Bengals – white/white/black/white
Texans – navy/H-town/white/navy
Broncos – navy/navy/white/navy
Agreed. The broncos, ravens and jags can mix and match pretty much any of their elements and be good as long as we’re talking about the current sets and not the throwbacks which would create stylistic mismatches. The Steelers look great in all black, but the lesson their is: ditch the italics unis. Swap the numbers on the color rush to white and make it permanent.
Speaking of throwbacks…. Let’s hope Buffalo never tries to do a throwback on those dumpster fire uniforms from the 2000’s LOL
The gold numbers on the Steelers uniforms don’t work for me. It makes the white of the logo on the helmet seem out of place. They should go back to the white block permanently.
As a lifelong Steeler fan, I could get behind a switch back to the block numbers. I had thrown out a theory that this could happen sometime around 2030. My reasoning is that by then they will have had the 50th anniversary of all their Super Bowl teams from the 70s, which they have been using this jersey as a throwback to pay tribute to (they originally brought back the block numbers to honor the 40th anniversary of the 1978 & 1979 teams in 2018 & 2019, respectively). And by that time they would be coming up on the 30th anniversary of the two Roethlisberger-era championships, and they could break out the rounded-number shirts as throwbacks to pay tribute to those teams!
That’d be a reasonable approach, I imagine some fans prefer the futura numbers. It’s probably the old, what did they wear when you were a teenager that you like.
Across the Commonwealth, I’d like to see the Eagles go back to thr Randall Cunningham Era uniforms. Perhaps moments like Saquon’s leap last weekend will help budge that along. Then they could bring back the midnight green when they play the Patriots.
“…the Jets don’t need any black in their color scheme.”
Wholeheartedly agree, of course.
“Should the NFL relax its uniform rules even further to permit alternate helmets/uniforms or color rush uniforms to be co-mingled?”
No. Again, I agree with the ultimate assessment, that there are a few combos that work but most of them don’t. If the NFL is going to relax its uniform rules, as I’ve said before it should allow for both home and road versions of a throwback plus a single “Color Rush”/alternate. And, it should increase the number of throwback/alternate games from three to four, with the fourth being a road game.
I will just never accept the Bills color rush jersey. It’s way too vintage Patriots, a team that’s been in their division forever. The Bills are a blue team. Not a red team.
These mix-and-match posts are fun, but they would be better if you used Madden to show off the combinations. That way, we could see what the uniforms would look like on the (virtual) field.
That would be cool, but it would also take SO much more time. Plus, I doubt Phil has Madden 25 anyway.
Perhaps a guest author would like to step up?
Creating jersey combos is my favorite thing to do in Madden, ever since the gameplay went to hell.
It was me against Raj Patel. And I misspelled, in front of the entire school, the word ‘failure’.
Thanks Dwight!
Though they do make a difference, I have never paid much attention to socks. Unless a helmet is real gaudy and not a team color, helmets don’t matter as much as jersey and pants. I guess for me, I mostly look at what is a larger colored area.
Hard no:
Chargers
Texans
Colts don’t mess with perfection
Steelers don’t mess with perfection
Jets
The other combo shown are okay other than:
Broncos any pant/ jersey combo of Navy and orange is a no
Jags any pants/jersey combo of black and teal is a no
Bengals any pants/jersey combo of black and orange is hideous; therefore no
Bills any pants/jersey combo of blue and red is also hideous
Digging Phil’s riff on the Steelers time-tested black and athletic gold.
And the Bolts in royal over yellow is a terrific option!
If the Colts would ditch the olde – timey gray face masks and get back behind blue ones…maybe, just maybe, blue pants would be a nice change of pace.
Broncos B/B/W/B is a good look – no to orange bottoms.
GTGFTS–1978 Super Bowl between the Cowboys (27) and Broncos (10) in the Superdome. Harvey Martin is pictured who was co MVP with his teammate Randy White. A game that helped to cement my hatred of the Cowboys as I entered my 10th year of life!
Does anyone know why the NFL won’t let teams mix and match as much as they want? Considering the league is all about selling merchandise, I would think the more exposure of different unis, the better for sales. I’m not condoning it, I’m just curious.
It’s in the name. NFL = No Fun League.
The only passable examples are Buffalo’s.
I’m kicking the tires on the notion that the Bills could make being a red AND blue squad work. You put the Kelly-era helmet (with the ‘84-‘86 blue mask) atop the blue-over-red (I generally hate red pants!)and I might be sold.
I’m kicking the tires on the notion that the Bills could make being a red AND blue squad work. You put the Kelly-era helmet (with the ‘84-‘86 blue mask) atop the blue-over-red (I generally hate red pants!)and I might be sold.
The Chargers really need to add an alternate navy helmet. Put that with navy over white or yellow and you would have some awesome alternates.
Chargers Royal Blue jerseys with Gold numbers paired with Gold Pants is their best uniform.
Maybe Powder Blue jerseys look better with Gold numbers too and Gold pants.