Four teams redesigned their uniforms for the 2024 season: New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. This short series will review all the uniforms worn by those four teams.
Shortly after last year’s Super Bowl, Jets owner Woody Johnson announced the Jets would have new uniforms for 2024, promoting the white “Sack Exchange” throwback to primary status, while adding green and black designs to round out the new set. Then, in July, the team announced it was adding a special throwback uniform for 2024, a tribute to their 1968 Championship and Super Bowl III winning team.
The original “Sack Exchange” uniforms had only two options: green helmet, with white pants and green socks (and of course, “low” whites), with either a green or white jersey. But this being the NFL in 2024, we knew from the outset the Jets would probably sport some combinations that weren’t part of the original. And indeed they did: the team mixed and matched the new green and white jerseys, pants and socks, creating several new combinations. Fortunately, the Jets — while introducing a BFBS alternate — never mixed any of the green or white elements with the black uniform. They would wear the BFBS kits for two games, and the Super Bowl III throwbacks for a single game. Their remaining games would be a mix of their primary uniform combos.
In total, the team wore eight different uniform combinations, which we’ll look at below.
This is the primary look for the team, and the standard home uniform for the Sack Exchange Jets. The biggest difference between their new set and their originals was the helmet — back in the day, the original helmet was a slightly darker green, whereas their current helmet (their lone carryover from the Jets’ previous set) has a more yellowish hue, and a metallic finish. As a result, because of its reflectiveness, the helmet didn’t always match the jersey’s shade of green. A minor annoyance, to be sure, but still noticeable. Other than that, this combo looked outstanding.
The Jets wore this combo six times (the most of any outfit) during the 2024 season.
Grade: B+
This was the primary white-jersey look for the Sack Exchange (and the same look as they wore in 2023 when the Jets first introduced it as a throwback). It’s such a classic look, and it works even better than when paired with the green jersey, as the color difference between greens wasn’t noticeable. When one thinks of the Gastineau/Lyons/Klecko/Salaam years, this is likely what one pictures.
Unfortunately, the team only wore this combo twice in 2024.
Grade: A
The Jets mixed and matched their green and whites somewhat often, and this was probably their best alternate green look. The helmet works well with the pants (mismatches in shade are negligible), and sporting white hosiery keeps the green/white balance.
The team wore this combo for three games.
Grade: A-
As you all know, over the past several years, NFL teams have had a tendency to pair same color socks and pants, so the Jets were no exception to this trend. It’s not my favorite look by any means, but not too terrible either.
The team only wore this look once, in Week One of the season.
Grade: B-
Another recent tendency of NFL teams has been to wear all-white below the neck, and so the Jets joined more than half of the NFL in sporting this look. It’s another trend that needs to go away, but the Jets actually make this work better than most, since they are really only a two-color (green and white) team. Having a thick green stripe on the pants keeps this from the yoga pants look.
The Jets only wore this combo once, in Week Seven.
Grade: B
Mono-green was the final green/white mix and match for the Jets. It’s not one of my preferred looks, but again, the NFL has seen teams going mono-color with some regularity these days. Even so, maybe because the Jets only have two colors for their primary uniforms, the all-green look was better than a lot of teams who go mono-color.
This was another “one shot” uniform, worn only in Week Sixteen.
Grade: B-
The Jets did a pretty nice job with their 1968 throwbacks. If this look is somewhat familiar, the team wore a version of this for 20 years, from 1998 through 2018, but the shade of green on those was decidedly more olive green than the original kelly green the team wore from 1964-1997. These throwbacks didn’t quite match the shade from Super Bowl III, but it was still fairly close. Trying to force the original look onto today’s modern template didn’t quite work, since the original look featured full sleeves, but that’s almost impossible to recreate when teams barely have sleeve caps these days. Nevertheless, I LOVE this look and wouldn’t mind if it gets promoted to primary status once the current uniforms reach their five-year minimum.
The team wore this once, in Week Six.
Grade: A
For whatever rea$on, the Jets created an all black alternate to complete their 2024 uniform lineup. As the Jets are a green and white team, this is unfortunately “BFBS” to the extreme. Back in 2019, the Jets went BFBS with their prior uniform design, and for $ome rea$on decided they’d double down and reintroduce it with the new design. While it’s not the worst BFBS uniform ever, it’s still terrible. At least the Jets had the good sense to never mix any of the black elements with their primary green and white sets. But that’s about the only good thing about it.
The team wore this twice: Once on Halloween and again for the first game they played following Black Friday.
Grade: D-
What did you guys think of the Jets new uniforms for 2024? I’d give the entire set a B+ (brought down only by the BFBS). Not only were the new uniforms well done, they replaced what was inarguably the worst uniform design the team has worn.
Your thoughts?
OK, I think we need to stop throwing the term “Sack Exchange” out there to describe or identify this uniform, notwithstanding that it’s an easy reference-point for the era in which it was used. The “Sack Exchange” was really only a thing for a couple of years in the early ’80s, whereas the uniform was used from 1987-89. Granted, Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau and Marty Lyons were with the Jets for almost if not the entirety of this period (Abdul Salaam played only one game in 1983, was traded, then retired), but by 1985 (when the Jets shifted to a 3-4 and moved Klecko to the middle) no one was talking about the “Sack Exchange” anymore.
I prefer to call the 1978-89 uniform the “Klecko kit” given that his career with the Jets spanned its use (offset by one year), and that he’s the only Hall of Famer who wore it.
Correction: the uniform was used from 1978-89. That pretty much covers the careers of Klecko (1977-88), Gastineau (1979-88), Lyons (1979-89), Wes Walker (1977-89), Mickey Shuler (1978-89), and Pat Ryan (1978-89). All but Shuler and Ryan played their entire careers with the Jets.
The thickness of the white collar on the green jersey bothers me. The amount of white is little too much in my opinion.
Just another chapter in Nike’s LONG saga of failing to do collars right. Flywire, toilet seats, cutting off the point of the collars at the shield, and now they’re too thick.
NFL collars in general have been getting out of hand for years. Compare the Packers’ collar today to the 1970s and 1980s. And the thick black collar is part of what makes the Eagles’ uniform so bad.
Some further thoughts:
– I think the primary home look (green/green/white/green) deserves a higher mark, as I’m not really bothered by the helmet’s metallic paint finish causing color mismatches in some light conditions.
– I disagree that the primary road look (green/white/white/green) is the go-to memory of the “Sack Exchange” era; as mentioned above, Salaam was essentially gone after 1983, and it wasn’t until 1985 when the Jets started wearing white at home regularly. When I think of the Jets in their last years at Shea I think of the green jerseys, not the white.
– It should be noted that the “Super Bowl III”/”1968” throwbacks use the 1998 logo on the helmets (probably for both merch and IP reasons), and the 2002-2018 white striped socks, rather than their period-appropriate counterparts. The shade of green on the 1998-2018 uniforms was only “decidedly more olive green” from 2012 onward, after Nike took over; before that, it was a hunter green that matched the Packers’. And, I haven’t seen anything saying that this uniform was for 2024 only, or that it’s been discontinued; hopefully it won’t be, as I agree this should be the primary look (and if Jim Pons wins his IP lawsuit, it could be….)
Jim Pons will win that lawsuit when hell freezes over.
I may be in the minority here, but as a Jets fan I’ve never liked that SBIII design. It looked great in the 60s with the full sleeves, but it just does not work at all on the modern jersey. Every time I see it I can’t help but notice that stripe to nowhere on the shoulder creating a random right angle. And don’t even get me started on that godawful helmet logo
I’m alright with wearing it once a year as a tribute, but I hope we never see it much more than that
I’m with you on this for all the same reasons! Except I have no rooting interest in the Jets. The revival of that uni in 1998 was just dismal, what with the wrong shade of green and the more oval helmet logo. The 2019 set was definitely an upgrade and I didn’t think it was so bad. But when they brought out this uni set, yes! That is my definition of the Jets. I guess it’s because that’s what I grew up with but I think this new version is one of the best in the league, sans BFBS of course.
I agree. The 78-89 and 90-97 are way better. They need to reduce the green around the collar on the white uniform and vice versa with the green jersey. The 90-97 looks better with the black facemask and black number outline. They also wore metallic green helmets in some of those years. I would even go as far to say the 19-23 looks better than the SBIII design.
These are all nice looks, with the exception of any including the black elements and the mono green look. I agree the wide collar coloring is too much, so maybe a tad thinner would do the trick.
That said, the 1968 throwbacks are the best of all, so add a green jersey to that look and just wear that all the time. You could even (gasp!) upgrade in a few years by wearing a white helmet with the concord Jets logo inside the football shape of old. Best of both looks.
I really like the Super Bowl throwbacks. I’d take the stripe off the shoulder and add a white facemask and also a set of green pants and a green helmet. Think those could be a top 5 look. OH I would for sure also add some striped socks.
Truthfully I dont know why we are dogging the uniforms so much, I mean the Green/Green/White/Green and the Green/Green/Green/Green in my opinion are kinda cool to look at. The all-black is not my favorite at all I feel like the mate black on the all-black uniforms kind of clashes with the uniforms. I feel like metallic black would be better. I think the Super Bowl uniforms could use some work. I like what Taylor said I agree that a white facemask would complete the uniform better. But like what Luke said the random right angles on the sleeves are kinda hard to look at though.
Unpopular opinion: I actually like the Jets’ black jerseys. I like black uniforms overall (not every team needs one, though) and specially how black and green combine together.
Maybe it’s because I’m not a Jets fan, but I don’t mind if one of the jerseys on their set is less traditional than the rest.
I also kinda like the black Jets unis. I will say I think it’s unfair to write them off as “BFBS” as the Jets added black as a color in 1990. I thought this fact would be more known on this site
Oh you don’t know the rule? If a team added black to any component of their identity or wardrobe after 1990, it’s BFBS.
I’m NOT a fan of the “Sack Exchange” current Jets uniforms. I’m much more appreciative of the Jet’s SB III uniforms – even with the current sleeve caps. I like the White 1960s-1974 helmet better also.
While I agree with the grade rankings here, it is still ranking a bunch of mediocrities or yuk (all black, or all green) when much better uniforms are already available. Isn’t the point to wear the BEST looking uniform on a regular basis?
I would agree that these should be called the 1978-1989 design. Although the SB III look is nice to see once or twice a year I would want to see it again as primary in 5 years. We had had from 1998-2018 and most fans don’t want it. The 1990-1997 look is the best Jets look.
I think the 2024 set overall was a hit. They looked like the J-E-T-S should look.
Eliminate the BFBS unis and instead of the wide white collar, make it half white/half green. Other than that, I think it’s a solid set.
With some tweaks to these ‘Sack Exchange’ jerseys I think they would really look good. Slim the gigantic collars down considerably. Get rid of the metallic helmet color. The uniforms are a little too plain for my taste. Some trim work needs to be done on the sleeves and pants. But I love that Jets script logo. Also something about the Namath set and the set from ‘98-‘18 will always say Jets to me, even though the logo is so bland. The jerseys are just right.
If they must resort to BFBS then it should just be the subtle trim and facemask used in the Esiason/Lott early 90s era.
You know what these unis are missing? Striped socks for primary home and away unis. Not sure if it matches up with the original era in which they were worn, but imagine if they had two solid green stripes on the white socks and two solid white stripes on the green socks. These would be near perfect then (aside from the awful black alternates).
A few issues with the current design-p although overall – I grew up with this look for years and consider their getting rid of the Gase-era look as a huge upgrade.
1-The helmet: The sheen needs to go, that metallic look is so mismatched with the green jersey and all green striping elsewhere in the uniform set. Take the shine away – or go with a matte green helmet and the look improves considerably imo.
2-When Bruce Coslet took over the Jets incorporated black trim around the numbers, names, the JETS logo, as well as running down the sides of the green pants stripe – and introduced a black facemask. Whether it was the Jets in green jersey’s or in white jersey the uniform popped so much better with the small addition of black trim, they should bring this back.
3-Green. Not just green – but Kelly green. This is supposed to be the Jets main color, and it was for years before it was changed, and it’s never gone back. They should bring back the Kelly-green look.
4-Unlike many, I would like to see the Jets utilizing a green-black-green-white uniform combination for certain games ala how the Ravens use the black-purple-black-white combination. I think that would make for a “tough” look and the Jets should see how that plays out.
I don’t mind the black if its only for a game or two, but they should have just swapped green for black, and use a little green as accents. The green logo on a black helmet is awful. White with green trim would be a vast improvement
Yeah couple of thoughts as a Jets fan
– Overall these are a massive improvement and look great. The team performance :(
– I love the metallic helmet and that fact it isn’t 100% matching with the Green jerseys doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I think it gives just a tiny and necessary bit of pop to a uni that some might consider plain at times.
– The Green pants are fine and have precedent from the mark 2 90-97 version. They look good and while I generally hate mono color unis these could be worse.
-The BFBS are obviously not my favorites but as the Jets said themselves there’s a certain market for these. So if it’s the price to pay to get good looks the rest of the time then I’m in. They still have issues mostly that the numbers and Helmets don’t match. Now that said Green/Black isn’t a bad color scheme. I also agree with those that mixing green pants in here would likely make these significantly better.
– The other way to go with the BFBS is use a significantly lighter green, maybe electric green and go for a so bad it’s good look. An electric green would provide far better contrast with the blacks. As long as it’s sectioned off from the rest of set
– 68 throwback is excellent and really fixes the majority of issues the end period 12-18 Nike looks had by lightening up the green. I agree that I would like this to be full time at some point as well but I am quite happy with what we got.
These grew on me as the season went on, but the Super Bowl III template is the look the Jets should stick with.
Overall the new Jets uniform were a huge upgrade over the last set and even the 1998-2018 set.
Best uniform is white on green of the bunch. The socks need green stripes on the white socks and theyd be set.
I’m not a fan of monochrome, so I can do without all green and all black. I think the black jerseys would work better if worn with white or green pants.
I would like to see the white on black combination in the future. The Jets wore this combo a couple of times like the Eagles did with the last uniform set.
Jets did a much better job in honoring their 80s and 90s uniforms than the Lions did. Lions get an F for never sticking to their traditional combos the whole year except for week 2. I hope that big loss in the playoffs taught them a lesson that being a superstitious about uniform combinations don’t work and don’t help you win games.
I’m in the minority but I loved the Texans and Broncos new uniforms.
1. NY Jets
2. Broncos
3. Texans
4. Lions (would be higher but they chose to go mono the whole year)
I much prefer the current set to the Super Bowl 3 throwbacks. I’m sick of white helmets, the logo on the current helmet looks fantastic and is best representative of a Jet, and I think having a football in a team’s logo is too on the nose and looks dumb. Their current uni-set on the modern template is the best the team has ever looked, IMO.
White is overused and the SB III look is tired. The current logo is the best by far. They just need to make the collar outline smaller.