Ranking the NFL Uniforms

It’s time for another edition of Set Apart Sports Uniform Rankings!! If you missed my NHL uniform rankings, check them out right here. But today, it’s the NFL under the microscope. Following are the rankings of the NFL uniforms, according to….me

32-16 revealed today, 15-1 revealed later in the week. Let’s go!

The Seriously Ugly

32. Cleveland – The Browns weren’t that bad, unless they wore the brown pants. But Jimmy Haslem decided to make a change….and was it awful. First, there’s too much brown. The helmet is orange – accentuate that color. Turrible.

31. Tampa Bay – Another recent change that was botched. The numbers? What on earth happened there? It’s supposed to be as if a sword is writing the numbers. Not even close. And too much going on; too many colors, too many little “nuance’s”, too many everything. I do like the enlargement of the logo on the helmet, a la college. But definitely not enough.

30. Jacksonville – Three words. Pick. A. Color. The two-tone helmet is an absolute horrific choice. They should have stayed with black, with the matte finish. But it looks like they ran out of black paint and only had gold left. Terrible. Outside of that, the uniform is nice, but the helmet is SO bad, they fall here.

 

29. Tennessee – I do not like the logo at all. If you have seen the alternate logo, it is much cooler. I CANNOT stand the partial stripes on the helmets. You’ll see this later on as well. Add those to the all powder blue uniforms at home…yuck. When the Titans had the navy home jersey with white pants, it was acceptable…and would be higher on this list. The away jersey is serviceable.

 

28. Miami – I was intrigued when the ownership group announced that they were going to change the logo and the uniforms. Boy, did they miss. First thing that jumped out to me was the white facemasks. Did we take a time machine back to the mid-80’s? C’mon guys. Secondly, the stripes on the helmet and pants are too large. It suffocated out the little orange that they kept. The compliment of the aqua and the orange was perfect before they changed. Now it’s terrible.

 

The Busy and Confused

27. Atlanta – The change to black helmets back in the Jerry Glanville days was a great change. Even when the falcon on the helmet was changed a few years back, it wasn’t too far off from the original. However, the uniform change that came with it was subpar. I just don’t understand all the busyness around the shoulders. Is there a need for 800 different lines and delineations on the uniform? As far as I know there is no meaning behind all the stripes and compartments on the shoulder. Simpler is better.

 

26. Arizona – see above.

 

25. Baltimore – Pick. A. Color. Are you a purple team or a black team? If the main color is purple than change the helmet to purple. If it’s black, then get rid of the purple uniforms. And for the love of all that’s holy, don’t EVER combine the purple and black uniforms. Awful look. Plus, the raven on the helmet looks too cartoonish.

 

24. Carolina – As discussed earlier, if there are going to be stripes on the helmet, they shouldn’t stop halfway up the helmet. Terrible look. The black on black home look is terrible as well. If the helmet is silver, I think silver pants for both home and away would look very cool.

 

23. Cincinnati – The last of the busy looks. Why are they higher than the others? The helmet. I LOVE the helmet. But again, why is there a need for 46 different colors on the uniform? There isn’t a rule that states a team has to incorporate all of the colors of the team on each uniform. The Bengals had it right when they first changed the uniforms back in the early 80’s. Don’t do the black on black ever either. See below in Denver's description about the pants striping.

 

We Tried Too Hard

22. Denver – The transition back to the orange tops at home was a great change for the Broncos. However, the blue pants aren’t a good look. The stripes on the pants get a little crazy for me. I enjoy the distinction between college and the pros in terms of the uniforms. Colleges can try new and different looks, while the NFL is more buttoned up. The stripes on the pants twisting to the front of the pants look very college to me.

 

21. Philadelphia – BFBS. If you haven’t seen or heard of that acronym before, it stands for Black For Black Sake. Why add black for no other reason then its black? It isn't the 90's anymore where black sold everything. Chill. The black jersey for the Eagles is awful. I liked the change to the darker green, but the faux pas with Nike and the color caused issues last year and there have been rumblings that they Eagles may go back to kelly green. That would be awesome.

 

20. Detroit – Another BFBS team. The Hawaiian blue (yes, that’s the color) and silver looks awesome together. Why ruin it by adding black to the uniform and facemask? Stop!

 

19. St. Louis – The Rams are here for two reasons: the blue on blue look they used at home last year. Awful. And for changing from yellow to gold. Their “throwback” uniforms are excellent. Go back to those… PLEASE!!

 

18. Houston – Too. Many. Combinations. Ditch the blood clot look (that’s red on red) pronto.

 

So Close…

17. Minnesota – The Vikings realized the error of their ways after changing from the classic Vikings look to the…I don’t know how to describe their Favre era ugliness. They harkened back to the classic look with a few tweaks. The one that caused them to be this low? The black facemask. Why?!?!?

 

16. Washington – Love the change back to the gold pants for the Redskins. The reason they are this low is the red-skinned Indian on the helmet. They should go back to the spear look.

 

There's the first half. Once again, thanks to Chris Creamer's site for all the photos.

Interested to hear your comments. Tweet me @illini3sc or leave a comment.

Shawn