Good morning, Uni Watchers, and a Happy Humpday to one and all. ICYMI, yesterday morning the San Francisco Giants unveiled their new 2025 City Connect uniforms, and as I had anticipated, they were definitely controversial, and there were some strong opinions expressed — both positive and negative — on the new look. The team also debuted them last night, and later today, I’ll have a full review of how they looked on the field.
But onto this morning’s topic: Part II of my look at a new alternate helmet for every NFL team. On Monday, I tackled the AFC, and today we’ll look at the NFC. If you missed the set up for this project, just click on the AFC link and it’s all explained in the first few grafs.
Here are proposed helmets for the teams in the NFC.
NFC East
DALLAS COWBOYS
The Cowboys already have their classic silver buckets, and when the league permitted a second shell in 2022, the Cowboys added a white helmet. They immediately gave the white shell double-duty, using it both with their throwback uniforms as well as their all-white color rush (which the ‘Boys call their “Arctic Cowboy” outfit). So they really don’t need a navy helmet, but it would work better with their blue jersey/white pants combo than does the silver helmet. Of course, with the ability to pair alt helmets with primary jerseys, the Cowboys could just as easily wear their white helmet with that combo now.
SHOULD THEY? Nah.
The Giants have actually teased a white helmet before, although that one (also seen in today’s splash image) featured a blue “ny” logo. But as we all well know, the Giants have been moving further and further away from having any blue on their road uniforms — in fact, the only blue on their road uniforms is their helmet, and one lone blue swoosh on the pants. OK fine. You want to ditch the blue? Then how about you go with a white helmet, with a red “ny” and a matching Northwestern stripe?
SHOULD THEY? Why not just complete the blue-removal process?
Like the Denver Broncos in the AFC, the Eagles are already at their three-helmet maximum (midnight green, black, and kelly green), so I didn’t create a helmet for them. If I were to, it would probably be white. I always liked it in 1969, when they had both a green helmet AND a white helmet. I would also love it if they return to their kelly green uniforms as their primaries and make a corresponding road white jersey to be their primary road look. They could have some fun mixing and matching green and white helmets that way.
This one feels like a no-brainer. Even if the Commanders don’t redesign for 2025, team owner Josh Harris has said the team will be keeping the current “W” that graces their burgundy helmets. Of course, the helmet would only work (at least at present) with the burgundy over gold pants, though the team could also return the Lombardi-era throwbacks (with or without the feathers on the helmet), so they’d have some options.
SHOULD THEY? Yes. Yes they should.
NFC North
CHICAGO BEARS
In an article last week, I mentioned that the Bears’ alternate orange helmet really needs to go, but I would definitely be more OK with a white bucket, similar to the one I created above. However, I don’t think da Bears need another helmet, even if it would work better than the orange. That midnight blue helmet has become a classic, and it’s probably best left well enough alone.
SHOULD THEY? Nope.
The Lions’ uniforms, introduced last season, had a lot of promise, until the team decided to go mono-blue, mono-white and mono-black (excluding helmets) for all but one game last season. I’d be 100% behind them if they were to pair their silver/gray britches with their home blue and road white uniforms, but alas, that doesn’t seem to be their MO. So, if they’re insistent on the all-white below the neck look, they may just as well wear a white helmet with it. Save the silver helmet for when they wear silver/gray pants. Take the black lion decal and stripe off the blue helmet, and add a silver lion and striping and then pair that monolulu blue outfit with it. Because, why not.
SHOULD THEY? Sure, it certainly can’t hurt.
I honestly don’t think the Packers should have a green helmet, but I also don’t think they need a white helmet either, at least not with the terrible mismatched striping. If they could somehow see fit to add a gold stripe down the middle, thereby at least more closely matching the striping on the jersey (and exactly matching the striping on the pants), I might be persuaded on the white hat. But honestly, unless they’re doing a throwback, the Pack should only have a gold helmet. When they go gold/green/gold, it’s the best uniform in the NFL, and a look — other than some minor changes due to templates — they’ve worn for more than 60 years.
SHOULD THEY? No.
Yes, the Vikings already have a white helmet, created specifically to wear with their “winter warrior” costume. But other than a gold helmet (nope), the only other choice for an alternate helmet would be white, and the one I created above could be worn with their regular uniforms. But the Vikes have been — and always shall be — a purple helmet team in my eyes. The winter warrior look is fine for one game a year (even if it’s completely unnecessary), though I’d be fine if they never wore it again.
SHOULD THEY? NFW.
NFC South
ATLANTA FALCONS
The Falcons already have a black helmet and a red shell, which they use with their glorious throwbacks. That basically leaves a white shell for a third alternate, but I’m definitely not feeling it. Their current iteration of uniforms is a mess — they really should just make the throwbacks their primaries — so giving them a white helmet option is not one I’d be in favor of. But since the Falcons, at least with their primary uniforms, are basically a black and white team, maybe the white helmet could work. The problem is most folks with eyes want to see the throwbacks as often as possible, so creating a new helmet would deprive us of that, and that’s no bueno.
SHOULD THEY? No.
The Panthers have really been laying into the Process Blue and black the past few seasons, while the silver helmet with silver/gray pants is almost an afterthought these days. So, if they’re not going to wear the silver/gray pants, they may as well add a Process Blue helmet. Hell, they could keep the silver shell and still lean into the Process Blue. I think it’s actually kind of a cool look, and the color is divine.
SHOULD THEY: Yes!
The Saints have one of the best throwback uniforms in football, but the biggest issue is their inability to properly create an old gold shade. The proposed helmet (above) would fix all that. It would match the shade of gold on the throwbacks, and could also be worn with the Saints’ all-white “color rush” fauxbacks, since their present gold shell doesn’t match the shade of the jersey and pants gold. Since they’re apparently averse to wearing their regular gold pants (they’ve worn them a grand total of once per season in the past two seasons), then they should just change the shade of the gold helmet to match the throwback gold.
SHOULD THEY? Hell yes!
Since the Bucs already have a pewter shell and a white shell (used for the Bucco Bruce throwbacks), I probably should have created a red alternate helmet, but if you’ve ever seen a concept, it’s almost impossible to work the red flag onto a red helmet and have it not get washed out. About the only way a red shell works is to go with just the skull and swords. But even so, I don’t really want to see a red Bucs helmet. The team could simply swap the decals from the Bucco Bruce shell to create a white flag helmet. But I’d rather they didn’t.
SHOULD THEY? No. Just no.
NFC West
ARIZONA CARDINALS
Of course, my entire argument against a red Buccaneers helmet goes against a red Cardinals helmet, as the bird logo is bound to get a bit “lost” in the red shell. The only other color that could possibly work — and believe me I tried to make it work — would be to create a yellow/gold helmet that matches the logo’s beak. But since the Cardinals have no yellow or gold anywhere but the helmet logo, it looks pretty stupid over any of their mono-combos. And as terrible as the white helmet over blood clot looks, it might look even worse with a red helmet. The Cardinals uniforms — save for the surprisingly good looking all-white — have more issues than a helmet will fix, however.
SHOULD THEY? No.
Flipping the blue and “sol” would give the Rams a new alternate shell, and it would probably look pretty good if paired with the white jersey and sol pants…but for every other combo, I prefer the current blue shell with yellow horns as opposed to the inverse. Ideally, the Rams add a sol jersey and white pants, and then this helmet would look great with a couple different combos. Until that happens however, they should just stick with the current topper. (Unfortunately, when I created the above helmet, I didn’t swap the positions of the blue and sol in the center panel, but you get the idea…)
SHOULD THEY? Nah. Not yet anyway.
If I had my druthers, the 49ers would dump both their 1955/1994 fauxbacks, and create a silver helmet, which they could use for a different throwback. But since it appears the current fauxbacks — which contain absolutely zero gold (aside from the period-incorrect helmet) — are staying, they may as well wear a white helmet that would perfectly go with the fauxbacks. Done and done.
SHOULD THEY? Yes, as long as they wear the 1955 fauxbacks.
I struggled with this one — there was no way I was going to make an “Action Green” helmet, and I also thought about a white helmet — for the white I removed the almost-but-not-quite-invisible pattern, and for the gray, I added a navy/white/navy stripe. I like the gray, but it also looks a lot like a Cowboys helmet, and the white just doesn’t quite do it for me. So best just stick with the navy helmet for now.
SHOULD THEY? Not at this time.
What do you guys think? Do you like any of these proposed alternate shells? Which ones? Any that you absolutely hate? And if you have a different idea for an alternate shell for any of the above teams, what would it be?
Fire away!
Washington looked good. Though not crazy about the Cowboys, it is better than white. I would prefer no new white helmets. The Saints and Panthers were decent. Most of the others were laughable!
I’ve thought for a while that if the Vikings needed another helmet shell, it should be very metallic purple with a purple (chrome?) facemask to be worn with the CR unis. Would it look good? Probably not, but if you’re already wearing an absurd amount of purple, you may as well go crazy with it!
I’m a bit surprised how obsessed you are with the lack of a yellow stripe on the Packers white helmet. Would it look better? Yeah, a bit. But the yellow helmet has a green-white-green stripe, so if you make it white, with no changes, they’ve got it correct, even if it looks odd.
Here’s a question over obsessed over: Which NFL helmets would look better with no stripe? I’d actually make a case for several.
I take an issue with the Giants portion of the post. It’s not that the Giants are on a crusade to “eliminate the blue.” They have not “moved further and further” away from eliminating the blue. They were primarily a red team early in their history and their blue and white uniforms are a copy of their uniforms from the 1950s. Their uniforms have remained consistent since 2000 when they last changed them, except for when they made the pants stripes consistent with the shoulder stripes and that change happened a few years ago. It wasn’t a change to get rid of blue, but to have more consistency with the stripes. Even then, it was one blue stripe that ran down the pants that really didn’t counterbalance the lack of blue in the rest of the uniform (except helmet).
Personally, as a Giants fan, I prefer to see more blue in their road uniforms. But I get it’s the modern day version of uniforms they used to wear.
Totally agree with everything you’re saying here. If anything, I think the Giants are closer to reinstating blue into their away unis (and hopefully red back into their homes) than they are further eliminating any more blue that you get from the helmet.
I’ve never understood the “pick a color” argument, which you hear with the G Men and TX Rangers, as if one team color is by default nothing more than an accent — especially since the complaint about the Angels and AZ Cardinals is TOO much of one color. I love that the Giants have been steadfast with red on their aways, and the red logo is [chef’s kiss.] Now if they would just go with the gray pants ….
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Phil has a better mock-up but its easy to see which is superior…
You could have just linked to my post, since I wrote that.
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Don’t know how I missed that….
The best UNI they’ve never worn…
Panthers’ helmet should be blue full time, though I think their shade is a bit brighter that what is represented here.
Aside from that the only other presented on here that looks decent is the Saints, and that’s because their old shade of gold is an improvement to the modern shade.
AHFAHS is one of the worst trends in football. So much of the team identity is tied to the helmet, using anything but an occasional throwback helmet just says the team identity doesn’t really matter.
The Cardinals should try a “copper” helmet like the 1984 Arizona Wranglers of the USFL. Which is to say, they should adopt the Wranglers’ color scheme. Barring that, maybe a silver helmet would work with the current uniforms.
This reminded me of my idea for the rebrand of the Cardinals when I wanted them to change their identity to reflect a Desert Cardinal and have a color scheme of “Silver”/Cardinal/Copper that I never posted but did after this.
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I’ve always thought the Falcons would look good with silver helmets, especially if they went back to red jerseys. I guess it would sort of be an Ohio State look, but I like that so it.woildnt bother me too much.
The Falcons specifically picked their colors to mirror the Georgia Bulldogs. Highly unlikely they would ever mirror Ohio State.
The Seahawks could also use that silver shel to replicate their logoless look from their earliest days.
Seattle has never gone with logoless helmets, even back to their inaugural season in 1976. Perhaps you are referring to all football helmets as they appeared on trading cards. All teams had their helmet logos airbrushed off of the photos. Topps didn’t have a licensing agreement with the NFL.
I’ve always thought the Falcons would look good with silver helmets, especially if they went back to red jerseys. I guess it would sort of be an Ohio State look, but I like that so it wouldn’t bother me too much.
Normally I agree throwbacks should be accurate. But the 49ers current red on white and all white alternates shouldn’t be going anywhere they’re sweet.
I don’t like the Bears orange helmets and would love to see them go away. A white helmet would be awesome but maybe with the bear head instead of the “C”.
Agreed – and put the same stripes down the middle as the pants.
Could we? Yes. Should we? No.
GTGFTS
29 Apr 2016
The end of Mike Broadway’s career as he relieves Jake Peavy and lets 8 more runs in, including a Yoenis Céspedes grand slam. Giants do not mount a comeback and lose 13-1 to the Mets.
GTGFTU – September 10,1999. Cleveland 14, Chicago 6.
I’m getting strong Kent State vibes from that Chargers concept. Much more than Michigan. It would be a great uni for the Golden Flashes, but the navy for the Chargers just feels wrong to me in general. It’s strange since I grew up with the Chargers in navy, but seeing a clip of an early 2000s game the other day, it just feels weird seeing them in navy.
Great looking concept regardless
The Seahawks would not look good with a center stripe, as it would interrupt the meeting of the two bird-head decals in the back. Nor do I care for the backwards bird beak the team currently wears. If anything, it should be one double-ended decal like the USFL Bulls used to wear.
Agreed.
I was going to put the Seahawks in my yes column until I saw the center stripes.
First, I think the Chargers have the best set of unis in the NFL, — and especially their light blues. (I should point out that my high school football team, the Waterloo (Iowa) Central Chargers, which opend in 1972, ripped off the San Diego unis of the time, which gives me a soft spot for the San Diego/LA unis.) Second, I’m usually not very big on concepts that are submitted by readers. But: These Charger concepts by Daniel Torres are top-notch, and I’d go for them in a second, as long as the blue socks were mandated.
Rams: YES!
(Your center shot is transposed, though)
Commanders, Saints, Bucs, 49ers: Yes.
Everyone else: No.
As for the Chargers concept, fill in the stealth lightning and you’ve got something there.
Here is my idea for the Falcons, bring back the silver they used to wear before all of the ridiculousness and make a new fauxback silver helmet with either a red or black old school falcon with red and black stripes over the top of the helmet. You could go either red or black face mask as well. Pair the helmet with the red or black fauxback jersey with the old school Bartkowski silver pants.
Washington looks like a gold U of Minnesota helmet with an upside down M.
Cardinals have red beaks. Even the females. So what kind of bird is the yellow-beaked one on the Arizona logo? Must be a chicken.
if the bears insist on an alternate i’d rather have white than orange. at least they wore white in the past, i think with a solid blue c, no outlines.
i guess i disagree with the panthers due to how hard it would be to see the panther with black on blue. if the logo were easier to see from afar i’d like it
Really like the Chargers concept, very clean. Great job, Daniel.
If that green Packers helmet had a yellow facemask it might actually be palatable. The logo on the Panthers helmet is too dark for a blue helmet. Maybe if it had white or silver accents it would pop better. The same applies for their black helmet; the logo just gets lost.
In order of presentation:
Cowboys – Come on man!
Giants – No
Commanders – No
Bears – No
Lions – No way
Packers – Absolutely Hell No
Vikings – No way, looks like a 2A high school helmet
Falcons – No
Panthers – Not with the black logo, idea is nice, but will have to change the jersey logo
Saints – Yes, but I don’t like their throwbacks uniforms at all, never have. Maybe that helmet could help.
Buccaneers – No
Cardinals – I used to think a red helmet would be good. After seeing this, HELL NO!!! The absolutely super far beyond awful uniforms need tons of work first.
Rams – No
49ers – No
Seahawks – Too close to the throwback helmet, don’t need another grey helmet.
this was a silly waste of time to say no to all except maybe the saints
I’m alright with some alternates, but I don’t want to see the entire league turn into the Oregon Ducks of whatever locale.
I’m realizing i’m going to die alone on this hill, but the panther’s helmet stripe has an outsized affect on me. For such a small thing… as the kids say, it gives me the ick. I hate how it flares out, and touches the panther logo. Either move the logo forward, make it smaller, or remove the flare. It looks too compressed, unbalanced… I can’t unsee it.
Washington, Carolina, Saints and Rams a yes, 49ers yes only when wearing retro uniforms without any gold. The rest is a strong NO, PLEASE. OK, I relent, white helmets for the Giants only if there is a healthy balance of red and blue details in the white road uniforms (and white helmets).
That panthers helmet is great. I’d use it as the primary and mothball the silver.
If I were in charge, I’d want every team to have a secondary helmet to use when playing a team that shares their helmet color. Just from my visual perspective, watching, for instance, the cowboys and the lions play looks off because the uniforms are too similar, even with the differing jersey colors. A secondary helmet for each team to wear on the road so they clash effectively with the other team. I wouldn’t want to go full college with alternate logos and numbers and all that, but just the primary logo on a different color, or a color swap, I think would work great
Why would a team named the Commanders wear a feather on their helmet?
Also, for all the complaints about the “ghost” lettering on MLB uniforms (specifically the Mets) why would you make a Packers helmet where the G is truly illegible?