2024 NFL Changes

[MCM0313]

20 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

They’ll never be you 

There’s no Dick involved, but anybody remember Fair Hooker?

[HOOVER]

8 hours ago, Brave-Bird 08 said:

 

All I know is that the current uniforms are universally disliked. I am probably one of the few people to have an appetite for them, but appetite and preference are two different things. 

 

When someone first suggested the Nike uniform designs were purposefully  temporary so teams could sell new jerseys, then double-dip after 5 years with a more traditional set, I laughed. Like, "oh, that's ridiculous." 

 

But you know what? At this point, do we have enough of a sample size to posit that might actually be the case? 

 

Bringing these back just in time for them to draft Shedeur and Shilo:

 

 

With the current logo and current helmet shell finish, maybe a slightly updated pant stripe.

 

Would be a Top 10 uniform.

[PurpleHayes]

9 hours ago, Brave-Bird 08 said:

 

All I know is that the current uniforms are universally disliked. I am probably one of the few people to have an appetite for them, but appetite and preference are two different things. 

 

When someone first suggested the Nike uniform designs were purposefully  temporary so teams could sell new jerseys, then double-dip after 5 years with a more traditional set, I laughed. Like, "oh, that's ridiculous." 

 

But you know what? At this point, do we have enough of a sample size to posit that might actually be the case? 

 

Lions' president Rod Wood let the cat out of the bag the other day:

 

"I think our goal was to honor the past — we have great colors, we have great history — but also put a modern twist on it," Wood said. "So I think when you see them, you'll see both of those things. And you'll see, hopefully, uniforms that propel us for at least the next five years to be one of the great uniforms in the NFL. And we're never going to change them dramatically, but there's always an opportunity to modernize them and I think people will see that."

 

It's interesting that he just tossed out 'five years' without prompting, and I'm sure Nike is seething now that their strategic plan to make every NFL team look like Oregon with 1,527 uniform combinations their ultimate dream has been leaked. (And yes, I know in that interview Nike said the NFL drives all the changes...but what else is Nike really going to say? That the tail wags the dog?)

 

The fact that most of the Nike rebrands have been UNDONE over the last 12 years or so, in favor of modified throwbacks, seems to give credence to this theory. Or, it shows how out of touch the designers (Nike OR the NFL) are when it comes to designing decent football uniforms.

[HOOVER]

30 minutes ago, HOOVER said:

 

Bringing these back just in time for them to draft Shedeur and Shilo:

 

 

With the current logo and current helmet shell finish, maybe a slightly updated pant stripe.

 

Would be a Top 10 uniform.

After looking at the 2020 season where the Falcons wore their Throwbacks with their Satin Black helmets, I think a bolder block number font update with these would be warranted; a thicker block would give the jersey more weight, since it lacks contrast from striping and logos, and would also separate their look from division rivals New Orleans and Carolina.   When I say a thicker, bolder block font, I mean something like what Arkansas or Michigan wears.   If they really wanted to separate from NO/CAR, they could go thicker with a tri-color number, like Florida or Marshall, or simplify and go just 1-color, like Vanderbilt did last year.

But still, these are so much better than what they're currently wearing.  I'd keep the striping pattern from these White pants and just change the pant color to Gray.  I'd keep the Red stripe on the Black socks, but remove the White.  

 

[BBTV]

within a week, threads have been not only Clevejacked, but also horsedick jacked, ganjacked, and now just plain dickjacked.  I love this place.

[HOOVER]

6 minutes ago, PurpleHayes said:

 

Lions' president Rod Wood let the cat out of the bag the other day:

 

"I think our goal was to honor the past — we have great colors, we have great history — but also put a modern twist on it," Wood said. "So I think when you see them, you'll see both of those things. And you'll see, hopefully, uniforms that propel us for at least the next five years to be one of the great uniforms in the NFL. And we're never going to change them dramatically, but there's always an opportunity to modernize them and I think people will see that."

 

It's interesting that he just tossed out 'five years' without prompting, and I'm sure Nike is seething now that their strategic plan to make every NFL team look like Oregon with 1,527 uniform combinations their ultimate dream has been leaked. (And yes, I know in that interview Nike said the NFL drives all the changes...but what else is Nike really going to say?)

 

The fact that most of the Nike rebrands have been UNDONE over the last 12 years or so, in favor of modified throwbacks, seems to give credence to this theory. Or, it shows how out of touch the designers (Nike OR the NFL) are when it comes to designing decent football uniforms.

Some of you missed the Nike articles from Phil Hecken last week.  So, for everyone in the back:
 

NIKE DOES NOT DICTATE UNIFORM CHANGES

The teams must initiate the process.  The NFL regulates the process.  Nothing is done without the team and the league's approval.  And the teams often dictate the changes they want Nike to make.

It burns me up to be a Nike-apologist in this post, but read the articles if you haven't already.  

Does Nike bring ideas to the table when prompted?  YES.  Are they sometimes complete :censored:?   YES.  Are there owners of teams, like the Chiefs and Giants, who push back on any changes?  YES.  Which shows you that the teams and the league are responsible for this stuff. 

 

Be pissed off that billionaire and millionaire professionals have bad taste...like the Houston Texans letting fans dictate them having 4 different complete looks, and the league signing off on it...instead of the manufacturer who is being asked to design stuff that they often don't like or want to change.

[VDizzle12]

14 minutes ago, HOOVER said:

Some of you missed the Nike articles from Phil Hecken last week.  So, for everyone in the back:
 

NIKE DOES NOT DICTATE UNIFORM CHANGES

The teams must initiate the process.  The NFL regulates the process.  Nothing is done without the team and the league's approval.  And the teams often dictate the changes they want Nike to make.

It burns me up to be a Nike-apologist in this post, but read the articles if you haven't already.  

Does Nike bring ideas to the table when prompted?  YES.  Are they sometimes complete :censored:?   YES.  Are there owners of teams, like the Chiefs and Giants, who push back on any changes?  YES.  Which shows you that the teams and the league are responsible for this stuff. 

 

Be pissed off that billionaire and millionaire professionals have bad taste...like the Houston Texans letting fans dictate them having 4 different complete looks, and the league signing off on it...instead of the manufacturer who is being asked to design stuff that they often don't like or want to change.

 

I think anyone who designs anything for a living knows exactly this. I have almost never had a project go from start to finish without a client putting their fingerprints all over it. Usually the more cooks you have in the kitchen, the worse the end result will be. Especially when you have someone pushing for "new, innovative, cutting edge". At the end of the day they are the one's paying the bill and will get whatever they want. Not everything we do as designers works. But sometimes we don't deserve all the blame. I've never worked with a company like Nike or a league like the NFL. But even on a smaller scale I used to take criticism personally on social media and message boards. I've learned to just focus on the positives and appreciate the work being done. Regardless of how some people on the internet feel. 

 

When it comes to the NFL and Nike. One positive is that most of the time teams recognize their failures and eventually go back to what works. The Browns, Bucs, Chargers, Cardinals, Jets, etc all have nice sets now after trying way too hard to modernize everything. 

[WBeltz]

8 minutes ago, VDizzle12 said:

 

I think anyone who designs anything for a living knows exactly this. I have almost never had a project go from start to finish without a client putting their fingerprints all over it. Usually the more cooks you have in the kitchen, the worse the end result will be. Especially when you have someone pushing for "new, innovative, cutting edge". At the end of the day they are the one's paying the bill and will get whatever they want. Not everything we do as designers works. But sometimes we don't deserve all the blame. I've never worked with a company like Nike or a league like the NFL. But even on a smaller scale I used to take criticism personally on social media and message boards. I've learned to just focus on the positives and appreciate the work being done. Regardless of how some people on the internet feel. 

 

When it comes to the NFL and Nike. One positive is that most of the time teams recognize their failures and eventually go back to what works. The Browns, Bucs, Chargers, Cardinals, Jets, etc all have nice sets now after trying way too hard to modernize everything. 

This comment made me think, and I highlighted two of the teams realizing a misread it the first time. But IF we go back and look at the color rush uniforms the league had made by Nike, why was Atlanta's so different from their current look? And then how come a team like the Cardinals didn't just do what the Falcons did, but with the color scheme they chose? Why did they have their color rush jersey still with all the extra nooks and crannies, when Atlanta was still carrying that similar design for their home/road looks, but went with a simple version for the CR? 

 

I'm only now realizing this. Make it make sense.

[jags1828]

12 hours ago, HOOVER said:

I think the perfect Jacksonville Jaguars uniform would be a mash-up of all 4 of their historic uniforms:

 

'95 Pant
'97 Jerseys
'09 Black helmet with Teal metallic fleck

'13 Logo

'13 Number outline color scheme on White jersey, '95-'08 color scheme for numbers on Teal jerseys

'18 Number font

 

This is a little mockup I made awhile back. Their current jersey design is pretty solid and looks good and works well with the modern jersey templates. It just needs more color. I absolutely love their late 90s uniforms, but I would keep them as throwbacks. The crawling jaguar and double sleeve stripes along with tv numbers is going to be hard to fit on today's sleeves.

[GhostOfNormMacdonald]

8 hours ago, GriffinM6 said:

I remember when the rumors came out about that gradient Jags helmet back in 2013. Everyone thought it was gonna be like the early 2000s San Diego State helmet. Boy, how wrong were we?

 

Also, seeing the new Jets uniforms, I can't help but feel there's something missing from them. I can't put my finger on what, but they kind of feel incomplete. Maybe a small chest wordmark with the beautiful new updated logo. would do the trick. 

Okay, I shouldn't say this, but I kind of like it

[rfraser85]

3 minutes ago, WBeltz said:

This comment made me think, and I highlighted two of the teams realizing a misread it the first time. But IF we go back and look at the color rush uniforms the league had made by Nike, why was Atlanta's so different from their current look? And then how come a team like the Cardinals didn't just do what the Falcons did, but with the color scheme they chose? Why did they have their color rush jersey still with all the extra nooks and crannies, when Atlanta was still carrying that similar design for their home/road looks, but went with a simple version for the CR? 

 

I'm only now realizing this. Make it make sense.

 

Color Rush is what brought me back from just blaming Nike. I linked to an article about the Giants' CR saga in an earlier post for backup. We must not forget that whoever comes up with the designs, the NFL has final say on if they're used.

 

The real problem is too many of the wrong cooks in the kitchen. The people coming up with the designs don't seem to remember they're designing football uniforms first and foremost. As a result, the throwbacks that actually look like football uniforms end up overtaking the primaries often as a team's most popular jersey. Hopefully the Falcons will take note of this next year. They don't even need to do a big R&D because their throwbacks should be easy to translate to a white and a red jersey.

[HOOVER]

12 minutes ago, jags1828 said:

This is a little mockup I made awhile back. Their current jersey design is pretty solid and looks good and works well with the modern jersey templates. It just needs more color. I absolutely love their late 90s uniforms, but I would keep them as throwbacks. The crawling jaguar and double sleeve stripes along with tv numbers is going to be hard to fit on today's sleeves.

Nothing wrong with this and it would be a solid evolution, though I prefer they keep the '18 number font over the '13 number font.  I'd flip the Swoosh to Gold as well, but yes, this would be an upgrade.

[HOOVER]

9 minutes ago, rfraser85 said:

 

Color Rush is what brought me back from just blaming Nike. I linked to an article about the Giants' CR saga in an earlier post for backup. We must not forget that whoever comes up with the designs, the NFL has final say on if they're used.

 

The real problem is too many of the wrong cooks in the kitchen. The people coming up with the designs don't seem to remember they're designing football uniforms first and foremost. As a result, the throwbacks that actually look like football uniforms end up overtaking the primaries often as a team's most popular jersey. Hopefully the Falcons will take note of this next year. They don't even need to do a big R&D because their throwbacks should be easy to translate to a white and a red jersey.

And the league is the one that went back to Nike around '14 or '15 and said, "Hey, jersey sales have dipped...whattya got?"

And then a consortium of people from the league & Nike came up with Color Rush.

[DCarp1231]

Never forget where we came from

[PurpleHayes]

9 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

Never forget where we came from

 

As ugly as that is, why can't the Saints at least use that shade of gold?

[Lights Out]

1 hour ago, PurpleHayes said:

what else is Nike really going to say? That the tail wags the dog?

 

Nike is the tail. The client (the NFL) is the dog.

 

As for "the next five years at least" - I assume Wood is just being modest. Their outgoing uniform set only lasted, what, seven years? The one before that lasted eight. And the one before that lasted six. It would be presumptuous for a team that can't go a full decade without redesigning their look to start touting the next set as their "forever uniforms." And by not making such a firm public commitment, they're also covering themselves in case the fans don't like the new ones.

[PurpleHayes]

19 minutes ago, HOOVER said:

And the league is the one that went back to Nike around '14 or '15 and said, "Hey, jersey sales have dipped...whattya got?"

And then a consortium of people from the league & Nike came up with Color Rush.

 

I know I keep hammering Nike, but here's how I envision things took place:

 

1. NFL jersey sales never dipped, but NFL sales managers want MORE so they can take their wives to Hawaii.

 

2. NFL guys go to Nike and say "Hey, we want MORE jersey sales, whattaya got?"

 

3. Nike whips out a PowerPoint presentation (because who doesn't?) with graphs showing how much MORE $$$ the NFL can make if they change NFL jerseys every five years.

 

4. NFL guys start nodding and say "Make it so."

 

5. Nike redesigns uniforms based on NFL input, and the new ones are almost universally hated. Sales DROP.

 

6. After 5 years, teams undo the changes and revert to modified throwbacks.

 

7. Trying to deflect blame, Nike claims that it was all the NFL's idea, pointing to Step #4.

 

 

At the end of the day, I guess it doesn't matter WHO is in control of the process, Nike or the NFL. But what's clear is that they make POOR DECISIONS TOGETHER, forcing them to revert to more-popular uniforms after the mandatory 5-year window passes.

[Lights Out]

2 minutes ago, PurpleHayes said:

7. Trying to deflect blame, Nike claims that it was all the NFL's idea, pointing to Step #4.

 

It's Steps 1 and 2 that make it the NFL's fault. At the end of the day, because of their exclusive contract with the NFL, Nike is obligated to humor all the dumb ideas that the out-of-touch suits come up with.

 

If Reebok was still the supplier, we still would have gotten Color Rush or something along those lines, just with super-stretchy fabric and piping and panels instead.

 

For better or worse, all of this was inevitable when the NFL moved from having several different suppliers to centralizing around one. Color Rush would have never been possible back when some teams wore Nike, some wore Adidas, some wore Puma, etc. As always, the buck stops with the league and their unlimited desire for money.

[AstroCree]

On 4/15/2024 at 11:17 AM, Sec19Row53 said:

I know it isn't marketing speak, but they could have just said 'We made the logo look better'.

Just one day, I want them to say exactly that. 

[WBeltz]

42 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

Never forget where we came from

If the helmet was solid black these would not be terrible.