The NFL Season just wrapped up and while many will move onto free agency, I want to look at the uniforms of all 32 teams. Over the next month I’ll look at eight teams and review their jersey’s from the 2023-24 season and crown a winner. Helmets, main and alternate uniforms, and logos will be judged. At the end, the winner of each of the four brackets will go head-to-head until only one team remains.
There is no team that has more wasted uniform potential than the Denver Broncos. I don’t hate some of their atheistic, despite the low ranking. The logo is one of the best in the league, and their orange and blue color scheme is great.
The main problem with Denver’s uniforms is just how dated the 1997 design looks. The number font, though unique, is very strange. The side stripes look terrible and take up too much space. Denver did debut a white helmet look, and while I was skeptical at first, the design has really grown on me.
What I would fix: Bring back the bright orange and blue ‘Orange Crush’ jersey. The Orange Crush design, with the big “D” on the helmet is one of the best throwback designs in the NFL. One way to modernize the design could be to keep the current helmet logo. With so many teams this year using throwback designs as alternate uniforms, the fact that Denver didn’t is very telling. We may see the retro redesign soon.
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Kansas City (KC) is another team that benefits from a classic look. The red and yellow is immediately recognizable, especially now that they are basically a guarantee to be in the conference championship. The only thing holding KC back is the clash between the red and yellow, along with their overuse of red. The red bodysuit is worn too often and looks bright.
The Chiefs’ best look is probably their away whites, especially the icy whites. While the red bodysuit is by far the worst. Despite that, it’s still a top wardrobe in the league, but the teams above them don’t have the clashing problem KC has.
What I would fix: Having a red jersey and helmet is already a lot, and adding red pants on top of that is an unnecessary eyesore. I’d also love to experiment with a white alternate helmet to pair with the icy white uniform.
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Kicking off the top 10 with a bang, as the Raiders’ silver and black is one of the best looks in the league. I am struggling to find a fault in the home or away uniforms. The uniforms shouldn’t be messed with. The away uniforms used to use silver numbers, and while it does look good, I think black looks a smidge better.
Las Vegas is unfortunately held back due to a lack of an alternate uniform. Like the Yankees in the MLB, the Raiders seem too scared to take a risk and try something new.
What I would fix: When they were originally founded, the Raiders were meant to be orange and black. A fun idea could be to bring this to life in the form of a throwback. If you do that and throw in an alternate black helmet, Vegas could jump into the top five.
When it comes to uniforms, no team does it like the Chargers. The powder blue, yellow, and white are the best color scheme in the NFL. Every uniform they have is perfect, whether it’s the triple mismatch or even just white on blue or yellow. Having numbers on the helmet is more of a college look. The Chargers pull it off and it adds to the uniqueness of the design.
The Chargers are regarded as having the best design in the NFL, and I can’t blame people for voting that way. For me the classiness of my number one gives them the edge over LA. It will take a few years until the Chargers design has enough years under their belt to end up number one.
What I would fix: It would be interesting to see yellow pants paired with the royal blue alternates. Everything else should remain unchanged.
I am way lower than most when it comes to the Ravens wardrobe, but I have my reasons. For starters, as good as the purple and black looks, it just doesn’t provide much contrast when they wear them together. The shoulder logo and the “B” on the pants also just look off.
I really like Baltimore’s current look. Unfortunately, the teams ahead of them just look a little better.
What I would fix: Get the “B” off the pants and replace the current shoulder emblem with the old helmet logo when the Ravens first got to Baltimore. Those two changes can really clean up the biggest flaws.
Pittsburgh’s look is the definition of classic, having made very few tweaks to the design since it was debuted in 1968. Unfortunately, the tweaks they have made hurt the design enough to push them down the list.
The Steelers moved away from the block lettering in favor of a more rounded font in 1997. This font doesn’t look bad at all; it’s underwhelming when compared to the block lettering.
While the font is an issue, it doesnt take away from all the good these uniforms do. Black and yellow is an amazing color scheme, especially when you look at the home uniforms. Even though the ‘blackout’ uniforms are an overused look, the Steelers absolutely nail it with their color rush uniform.
What I Would Fix: It cannot be stressed enough that the Steelers need to go back to block lettering full time, and any fan you meet will tell you that. Besides the obvious change, it would be interesting to see the yellow helmet come back in some way. This isn’t a uniform change, but color the endzones. Other teams that share a stadium do, so why can’t you?
No team in the past five years has had a more successful uniform change than the Browns. The 2020 re-brand decided to go back to the basics with a ‘modern throwback’ design. The simplistic aesthetic looks amazing, from the white block letters to the beautiful shoulder stripes. It is one of the best looks in the NFL.
On top of the already great look, the browns added a throwback white helmet into the rotation. The white-out look is a nice change of pace, although I wish it had numbers on the helmets as their old throwbacks used to. Hopefully the success of the modern throwback for the Browns will lead to other teams doing the same in the future (Jets, Lions, and Broncos).
What I would fix: The white facemask looks so much better than the brown one. They did use it once this year, but that is nowhere near frequent enough for my liking. And now that they have the white-out uniform, the Browns should avoid using the brown color-rush uniform.
If the Browns get the award for best rebrand in recent years, the Bengals are a close second. Cincinati keeps their look basic and beautiful. Orange and black pops off the screen and the new white ‘Bengal’ design looks incredible. The helmet is one of the best in the league, and it’s no shock that the Bengals rank this highly.
Cincinnati is the biggest outlier uniform wise in the NFL. They are the only team that I don’t mind when they wear a bodysuit. Both the all-black and all-white uniforms look good thanks to the tiger stripes. They’re also the only team that I think would look worse if they used block lettering. The current font fits perfectly and shouldn’t change.
What I Would Fix: I wish the Bengals wore orange pants a little more frequently, and like I suggested with the Panthers, and Jaguars, put a Bengal on the shoulders.
Winner:
Of all the brackets, this one was by far the hardest to pick a winner. The AFC North has four incredible designs, and the Chargers and Raiders are no slouches either. In the end this debate comes down to the Chargers versus the Browns. I love both designs, and if this were formatted any differently both would be in the top four. Unfortunately, I am forced to pick a winner here. Ultimately, the Chargers superior color combo of baby blue and electric yellow narrowly gives them the win here.
Ryan States is in his 3rd year at Lock Haven University, and his second with the Eagle Eye. He is a Journalism major with intentions to minor in Sports Management. With his never-ending passion for all things sports, he wishes to pursue a career as a sports writer for a major outlet. When not watching sports, he can be found playing video games, hanging out with friends at the REC. Or you can find him helping out in the booth during LHU sporting events. His biggest hope while at Lock Haven is to be able to positively contribute to LHU sports in any way he can.
