With the NFL’s uniform bar raised, Broncos can’t foul up alternate helmet

In 2016, the Broncos unveiled a “Color Rush” uniform that incorporated the team’s classic “D” logo. It went over so well that the look is an annual staple, even after the NFL formally discontinued the “Color Rush” program following the 2017 season.

But it also worked with a limitation of the time: the one-helmet shell rule. In 2012, the NFL banned teams from wearing multiple helmet shells in a single year. Due to that change, the Broncos needed an alternate look that allowed them to retain their navy-blue shells.

They found it, and unlike many of the “Color Rush” uniforms which found their way to the back of the closet, the Broncos’ look endured.

Fast-forward to the present. The Broncos will reveal their new alternate helmet on July 25. The teases offered by the Broncos indicate a white helmet.

🥶🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/QM5PgtQJim

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) July 13, 2023

And with this, there comes a risk.

TAKING IT BACK

The easiest path to a W is by embracing a throwback look. That’s precisely what 1976 expansion brethren Seattle and Tampa Bay did. The Seahawks went back to their 1983-2001 template; the Bucs threw it back to their original uniform (which slightly differed from succeeding years because of the sock stripes.)

Tap in and awaken your inner 90s. pic.twitter.com/q4mwmLZwr8

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) July 19, 2023

This is a new era. pic.twitter.com/TYsLdwXSFP

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) July 12, 2023

The Minnesota Vikings turned back the clock to 1969 — albeit with the matte purple helmet shells of recent vintage …

1/1s pic.twitter.com/cNs4S10fcr

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 18, 2023

… and the Tennessee Titans have already teased a Houston Oilers throwback:

Y'all got plans this weekend? 🔜 pic.twitter.com/vwMHQeWUOP

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) July 19, 2023

But other teams are mixing it up.

THE NEW LOOKS

CLEVELAND BROWNS

can’t stop staring at these 🤩

📸: https://t.co/ALNCza3R8q@DUDEwipes | #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/hK8Ydp7nQy

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) July 18, 2023

VERDICT: 🔥

This is a “fauxback,” if you will. The uniform — aside from the chest patch — is straight from the Browns’ inaugural 1946 campaign in the All-America Football Conference. They wore white helmets then, too — but they were plain. This design effectively swaps orange for white on the helmet and its stripes.

Cleveland’s color palette will always provide challenges. But this is a winner.

DETROIT LIONS

start your engines pic.twitter.com/aHOUjl9VQ0

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) June 21, 2023

VERDICT: Solid.

Detroit dug up a vintage logo for its first-ever blue helmet, reaching back to the 1960s. It wasn’t on the helmet in those days — the only helmet logo the Lions have ever utilized before now are various iterations of the “Flyin’ Lion,” an elegant logo with a history that belies the franchise’s decades of failure.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

As crisp and cool as the Indiana Nights. pic.twitter.com/dsxWC4secT

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) July 20, 2023

VERDICT: Woof.

The royal blue horseshoe logo on the black helmet is tough to discern, even with the white border. The shoulder stripes are a nice element here. But the Colts would have been better off extending them to the sleeves and ditching the “TV numbers” there. Those are no longer a mandatory element and were not included in the 2020 redesigns of the Rams and Chargers.

***

The simplest path to universal praise in an alternate look is by leaning into the past without mixing it up.

But that doesn’t appear to be in the Broncos’ plans. Something new is coming. And while it can work with a throwback element — see the Lions and Browns for examples — the Colts’ reveal shows how the new helmet can lead to a well-intentioned design gone wrong.

One hopes that the Broncos take the first road.

***

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