With the NFL now permitting all teams to have up to three different helmet shells in 2025 and beyond, we can probably expect a motherlode of them to be released prior to the upcoming season. One helmet that is expected will be a new athletic gold helmet for the Green Bay Packers, which the team will pair with their current early 1950s throwback uniforms.
According to a report from Andrew Lind from our pals at Sportslogos.net, the new helmet will attempt to replicate the leather look the Packers originally wore with what are now the team’s throwbacks.
Lind states that the belief is that the Packers are “on the verge of wearing the first airbrushed helmet in NFL history, one that mimics the yellow leather helmets the franchise wore in 1950.”
The Packers Hall of Fame features a uniform timeline, and that includes a look at the 1950 uniform with what appears to be a gold leather helmet, although it is difficult to ascertain whether it’s leather or an early plastic shell.
This would be the helmet the Packers will be attempting to replicate. Earlier leather helmets from the Packers looked like these:
Will the Packers new airbrushed shell resemble those?
While airbrushing helmets isn’t new (several college teams have already used the technique), they have gotten more “realistic” in recent years. Perhaps the best example of a great looking faux-leather look was introduced last year by the University of Illinois. Here are some closeups:
Of course, those helmets were replicating ones worn by the great Red Grange, who played decades before the 1950s Packers. But if the Packers will be attempting to create a faux leather shell, it’s likely they’ll adopt the same process used by Illinois.
Zach Cohen, who reported last month that the Packers were getting a helmet unlike people have seen before, stated after Lind’s article that the complexity of the design of Green Bay’s new helmet almost caused it to miss the league’s deadline for use this season.
It’ll be interesting to see if Lind’s reporting is correct, and if so, how the Packers will attempt to replicate their 1950 helmet.
Your thoughts?
Those Illinois faux-leather helmets are absolutely fantastic!
Seconded!
I’m dreading a lot of the third shells if they just meant City Connect/Rivalry nonsense, but if the Packers do those in gold, they would be worth it alone! (although maybe just scrap the stupid white one…)
I always loved the faux leather brown helmets that Washington wore during the RGIII years.
I really hope the Packers do away with the winter warning white helmets. For a very least add some yellow to the G or stripe