With the Browns unveiling new uniforms Tuesday night, it’s a good time to ask the following:
Who’s next?
Meaning, which team is next to unveil updated uniforms?
In this case, history can be a guide. NFL clubs can only undertake major design changes to their uniforms every five years. So get used to Cleveland’s new jerseys — they aren’t going anywhere for a little while.
However, other clubs have more flexibility to change their look. With this in mind, we’ve researched uniform changes over the years to see when clubs last made a major branding switch. For our purposes, we’ll define the last major change as 1) a major helmet logo alteration, 2) a major overall logo/mascot change and/or 3) a full uniform redesign. Also, we only considered the club’s primary uniforms; alternate and throwback jerseys were left out of the discussion.
In some cases, the matter of a “major” uniform redesign or change is quite subjective. For instance, the Cowboys have done numerous little things to their jerseys over the years, but their star logo has been constant. The Saints, with their distinctive fleur-de-lis and black-and-gold color scheme, are a similar case.
Also, numerous teams undertook various little changes to their jerseys when Nike took over as the NFL’s uniform supplier in 2012; unless there were major redesigns, a la Miami, the tweaks are not denoted below.
Finally, what are your favorite all-time NFL uniforms? Let us know in the comments.
2015
Cleveland Browns.
2014
2013
2012
2009
Detroit Lions (logo).
2007
San Diego Chargers. The team also made a few minor changes in 2013.
2005
Arizona Cardinals.
New York Giants.
2004
2003
Atlanta Falcons.
2002
2000
St. Louis Rams.
1999
Baltimore Ravens (helmet).
Tennessee Titans.
1998
1997
Denver Broncos.
Philadelphia Eagles.
1995
Carolina Panthers. The club made some logo text alterations in 2012. However, the jersey has not really been changed since the franchise began play in 1995.
1973
Chicago Bears (helmet).
1972
Washington Redskins. As with other clubs, there have been a few other small changes since.
1968
Pittsburgh Steelers. As Mike Florio notes, the Steelers tweaked their uniforms ever-so-slightly in 1997, with an altered numerical font the biggest change.
1967
Dallas Cowboys. There have been numerous tweaks to the Dallas uniforms over the years. In 1996, stars were added to sleeves of the blue uniforms, per CowboysZone.com. Also, the club made its blue uniforms darker in 1981. However, as CowboysZone.com notes, there have not been major design changes to the Dallas uniform since 1967. The essence has remained the same.
New Orleans Saints. Per Uni-Watch.com, several tweaks to the uniform were made in ’99, with changing the color of the numbers on the white jerseys from gold to black the most significant development. The Saints also made a slight alteration to the fleur-de-lis on their helmets in 2000.
However, these aren’t major changes by any stretch, and one could also argue the biggest alteration in recent memory was the elimination of striped jersey sleeves in 1986.
1964
Oakland Raiders. They have made minor alterations over the years, but nothing big, as SportsLogos.net notes. The club changed its color scheme in 1963 and tweaked its logo the following year.
1963
Kansas City Chiefs. Their color scheme has been largely been unchanged, as has the helmet. The arrow head on the helmet got a little smaller in 1974, per SportsLogos.net.
1961
Green Bay Packers. This was when the “G” added to helmet; minor tweaks have been made since, perhaps most notably during Forest Gregg’s tenure in the 1980s.
1957
Indianapolis Colts. According to ESPN, the Colts’ helmets with horseshoes on both sides were worn in this season. The Colts’ white/blue color scheme has largely the same throughout this time, with a few minor alterations.
