Earlier this week, Patriots QB Drake Maye went on Chris Long’s Green Light podcast, and spoke briefly about the Patriots’ red Pat Patriot throwbacks, and seemed to imply that the Patriots may have a new throwback on the horizon.
Long, who won Super Bowl LI with New England, mentioned how much he liked the Pat Patriot throwbacks and how the team should adopt them full time. Maye agreed, saying “Those reds are sweet, aren’t they? … We’re 0-2 in them, but I thought we played pretty good in them. But the reds are sweet.” The conversation continued as follows:
Maye: I think they’re maybe coming out with a… Maybe is what kind of the fans are wanting some blue, some throwback blues.
Long: Oh, really?
M: Those would be sweet.
L: I love the reds.
M: The fans are wanting it, so I think that’d be pretty sick.
L: Do they ask you all what to wear each week? Because they used to ask us, ‘What do you all want to wear this week?’
M: Yeah, usually. But the reds, they only brought them out two games. I think that’s the maximum.
If you listen to the audio or watch the video, it appears that Maye stops himself after saying “I think they’re coming out with,” almost as if he realizes mid-sentence that he shouldn’t say what he’s about to say, and then pivots to say “the fans are wanting some throwback blues.”
As a Pats fan, my first reaction hearing this was “oh shit, he’s talking about the Drew Bledsoe-era unis.” 2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the team adopting those uniforms, which they wore through the 2000 season.
These ’90s-tastic uniforms do hold a special place in Pats’ fans hearts. When the team adopted them, they were pulling themselves out of the doldrums of the early 1990s. In their last three seasons with the red Pat Patriot unis, the team went 9-39. After Robert Kraft’s purchase of the team in 1993, they dropped Pat Patriot, and adopted Flying Elvis as their new primary logo. The 1993 season saw the Patriots adopt new uniforms, going with royal blue home unis with red numbers (and white TV numbers), and white road uniforms with red numbers and blue TV numbers. These were replaced in 1994 with royal blue homes with white uni numbers (with matching TV numbers, thankfully). The road whites continued with red uni numbers and blue TV numbers, although the number font was updated to better match the home unis. The team also adopted red face masks and changed the striping of the pants.
They then adopted the uniforms most fans know as the Bledsoe-era uniforms in 1995, almost a wholesale change from the two that came before it, and these are the ones that have enduring popularity, as the team went to the playoffs three times in the six seasons these unis were worn (the team had gone to the playoffs three times in the last decade of the Pat Patriot era). I myself own a Ty Law road from this era. All the way back in 2019, Patriots S Devin McCourty wanted the team to bring back the 1995-2000 unis, and dynasty-era LB Willie McGinest reiterated it in 2021 (McGinest himself was on the Patriots when the team first adopted these uniforms).
Personally, I’d love to see these make a return. There is another wrinkle here, though — Maye told Long that he thought the team was only allowed to wear the red throwbacks twice a season. If the Patriots were to bring back the Bledsoe-era unis for 2025, would that mean the Pat Patriot throwbacks get mothballed again, like they were when the NFL had the one-shell rule? Would that mean they’d have two throwback uniforms?
As much as I love the red Pat Patriot throwbacks, I think I can live with the team suspending them for one season in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of these uniforms. But what say you?
One final note: the Bledsoe-era uniforms had already been retired for the dynasty-era uniforms when Drake Maye was born on August 30, 2002. I’m going to go curl up in a ball and sob now.
Ironically, this is one throwback that wouldn’t need a new shell! It’s still metallic silver and the red facemasks. Would it be exactly the same, or has the blue in Elvis changed shades?
The blue did get darker, but honestly, you probably wouldn’t notice it. They could change all the decals to the lighter royal blue, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the time.
As much as I love the 1995-1999 royal blue uniforms and would love to see them as a throwback, I hope what he is referring to is a primary uniform switch back to the Dynasty-era uniforms from 2000-2019 (maybe with the side panels removed). I absolutely hated the color rush uniforms from 2016-2019 and hate the current uniform set even more. The mono blue look, mismatched stripe colors when they wear different color jersey/pants, and the number and NOB font were all giant downgrades from the previous set.
Not a Patriots fan but I strongly disagree, I think going to silver pants with the current set is way better than the dynasty era uniforms. I would much rather see the 1995 uniforms than the Dynasty era. The teams were great but those uniforms sucked.
Completely agree
Hell yeah!!!!!!!!! But, would Nike be able to manufacture jerseys with that sheen and the vertical stripes?
I love the shoulder Elvis! They could classify these as Alternates, and still keep the Pat Patriot red throwbacks.
I love the Pat Patriot red, however it doesn’t make sense to have Patriots wearing red. Maybe if London ever gets a NFL team they can call it the Royal Dragoons, and wear red.
Don’t we get to wear the color of the army we defeated? Part of the spoils?
Uh no.
Sorry, but I don’t accept the idea that the jersey is a skeuomorph of the Colonists’ uniforms. Red is the color of excitement. It was a good choice in 1959.
This might be the first time someone other than R. Scott Rogers has used the word “skeuomorph” in the comments. It’s an historic day!
And while I get very excited about teams using red, I wish the Bills would have used it instead of the Pats when they started the AFL.
It *would* have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
FR? I love a weird uniform but these are awful.
As a kid in the 90’s, when they unveiled the blue Elvis uni’s in 93, i thought they looked cool, but the update in 94 looked so much better and of those 3 uniforms from back then the 94’s are my personal favorite and I am a lifelong Vikings fan. But another reason i like that uniform so much is Week 1 mud shootout in Miami between Bledsoe and Marino.
They definitely got it right in 1994 with these, I agree. I did like the pants striping on the 1993 editions though. They seemed to get progressively worse however. The italicized numbers and oddly striped jerseys from 1995-1999 and then the switch from royal blue to navy blue since then.
This was the era that I became a Pats fan and I have a Bledsoe home jersey lying around somewhere. But, the more I look at these, the less I like them. They definitely have nostalgia connected to them for me, but they’re not particularly good unis. That shoulder logo is enormous and oddly angled. If they were to make the reds the primaries, with or without Pat Patriot, I think these could be fun throwbacks, but I wouldn’t want them to replace the reds.
I am Pats-neutral and loved the Steve Grogan Era reds and Pat Patriot and all. But the royal blue with the red numbers were sweet. Before the sublimated stripes and the italicized number fonts and giant Elvii on the shoulders, that was a great jersey.
If these are throwbacks, then the red jerseys can switch to alt status and be worn with silver lids and pants. Would love to see that tried for a couple of games…
Absolutely could make the reds alts considering the current set is just a navy palette swap of the throwback reds. If they do switch to an ill advised throwback like this striped turd or the side panels etc, they’d still wear flying Elvis, so why not use Pat withe the reds still (other than imo it’s a lame logo), since the silver lid would look odd over the red uni.
The NBA-ification of the NFL continues. But unlike the NBA, at least these growing number of uniforms are in team colors.
Their worst look by far is the dynasty era duds. Even today’s sets look better. Bledsoe era was nice for sure.
I’ve never been a fan of Pat Patriot and was happy to see him go the first time. If he leaves again that would be fantastic. But as someone mentioned above the best would be to take the Brady unis, clean them up a bit and make them the home, The number changes and striping on the current uni suck.
I’ve always hated those. The dynasty era was an improvement. but I love the Pat era. Whatever though, if people love em, they should do it.
Correction: in 1993 when the Patriots adopted “Flying Elvis” James Orthwein was the owner. Robert Kraft bought the team in January of 1994. Unclear if the 1994 “tweaks” to the uniforms were done by Orthwein or Kraft, but the 1995 set was definitely the Kraft’s first real stamp on the uniforms.
Never liked the sheen stripes and the huge Flying Elvis patches but I love those big numbers. Bring it back, just for fun. But I prefer The Patriot Pat in red jerseys.