'Nickel City' Uniforms in Buffalo? Not Worth a Cent.

 By John Turney  

Well, here we are. A new low. The Bills' "Nickel City" alternat uniforms are here. And they are .. not good. But still, not sure what is worse -- the helmet of the uniform.

Has to be the helmet. They call it the "Charging Helmet," and it is supposed to "boast a mindset of energy, strength, and attack! Yeah, okay.

And here is the rest of the nonsense in the press release -- 

**************

Nickel Gray Foundation

Utilizing an existing brand color, we pull inspiration from the steel mills, grain elevators, and rail yards, which are foundational to our region's place in history.

Blue Collar

A tribute to the blue-collar workers of past & present who represent the strength, work ethic and authenticity of our city.

Left-Chest Charging Buffalo

Positioned close to the heart, the Charging Buffalo placement represents the love we have for our team and the pride so many Bills Legends have shown.

Tone-on-Tone Striping

With the exact stripe weights & ratios as our primary uniform, these tonal stripes are formed under extreme pressure as a sign of strength and durability.

***************

A grey uniform, in theory, is not terrible. It's just not usually a great idea. They can sometimes look good close up, but on the field, they always come across as bland -- with an odd helmet that has a "modern" design. Or a bad design, you choose. 

But reasonable people can disagree; there are undoubtedly some who will like it because it's "Fresh, clean, or fire." Not buying it.

Grade: D-

Rams Reveal Two New Alternate Uniforms

 By John Turney

The Los Angeles Rams continue to "evolve" their on-field identity in 2026. Following the refined primary uniforms revealed in April, the team will showcase two new alternate uniforms at a special event for season ticket members at the YouTube Theater inside SoFi Stadium.

This marks perhaps the last phase of the Rams' 2020 uniform refresh that was dubious in a lot of ways. The Rams started this year's iteration in April with updates delivering a "cleaner, bolder, and more streamlined aesthetic" to the royal blue home and white away looks. It seems "cleaner, bolder" meant fixing the errors introduced in 2020.

The Rams removed chest tags and gradient numbers/pant stripes. Now the numbers on the royal blue jerseys are solid yellow. They also added "full modern ram horn sleeves 

The team retired the polarizing "Bone" alternate, keeping the popular Midnight black Rivalries set in the rotation alongside the refreshed primaries. However, they did not tweak the Ram horn on the helmets, instead using the Fibonacci-style wave horn.

Today, the club added these:

Essentially, they are modern versions of the early 1950s uniforms and the 1960s-early 1970s white-over-white uniforms. They are using the "C" horn, choosing not to do a throwback horn on either kit, but that was expected. Clearly, the Rams are committed to not doing a true throwback.

The 1950s version (they call "Classic Sol") is yellow with blue numerals and an attempt at Northwestern stripes, as much as the jersey cuts will allow. The numbers are block, not rounded. The pants are white with blue and yellow stripes. The helmet is the same as the usual helmet. The odd thing is the socks. They show all white, not blue and that detracts from the look. But no indication if that is official.

White socks are a mistake. Hopefully they will go with blue.

The "milkman" uniforms ("Fearsome White") the Rams wore from 1964-72, jerseys are also block letters (with dark blue and black trim) with a fat shoulder stripe. The nameplate lettering is black and a fat blue stripe on the pants with a dark accent on front of the stripe. 

In the reveal photos, it looks like white socks but like the yellow jersey kit, blue would be better and it seems they can do either. The white mask on the helmet also detracts, but actually, not as much as the ones they wore in the late 2010s. 

Black (maybe a deep blue) nameplate lettering.

Blue numerals with a darker blue and black/deep blue trim.

White facemask on the blue and white helmet

So, there it is: the latest in Rams uniforms. There may be details in coming days. Press released often explain subtle elements so we'll await that, but overall decent attempt, the details a little odd but passable. 

Grade on both: B

Meh. The New Jets White Helmet - Nothing Special

 by John Turney 

The Jets announced an alternative helmet today, an all-white one (white shell and white mask), and it's just average, if that. It seems they will wear it with their all-white uniforms (White outs), given the pictures released. While it might work with a green jersey/white pants, it does nothing to the all-whites. It detracts, even. 

All-white uniforms (helmet, jersey, pants, socks) is the current fad. Most teams think they need one. And ... they don't. Sure, it gives rise to some extra sales, and NFL teams cannot really be faulted for it, but even so, it's not a good look. 

Contrast matters and the white mask does not balance the green lettering. Looks like something dipped in bleach. The white mask does not play off the green stripes and numerals. It's not a good look.

But nothing can stop the "icy" look (all white) but we can still grade them. It's a C at best.

Ravens Add Uniforms and Tweak Old Ones

 By John Turney 

Much of the design of the Ravens' uniforms remained the same, with only the number trim tweaked while keeping the font the same. The basics of purple, black and white jerseys mixed with pants of the same three colors has been around, some of them since the beginning of the franchise, or agt least when the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996 and changed their name and colors.

However, new helmets were added to the mix, a purple lid with gold facemask and a black on black alternate helmet with their alternate logo.

Apparently, they are calling the black-one-black "Darkness," with the all-black helmet to top it off.

Okay, fine. Whatever. 

Here, you can see the different trim on the numbers and little feathers around the collars of the purple, white and black jerseys—

And here is a shot where you can see one of the bigger differences, the pants striping. Let's just be grateful there is stiping, and this is workable, as part of the update/modernization. 

Our take is there is nothing wrong with these, nothing wrong with an update, but you kind of get this feeling when you see them: 

Per the Ravens, the purple over white and white over purple will be the usual and the secondary purple "Purple Rising" and the all-black "Darkness" will be the alternates.

As we said, nothing bad here, liked them before and like them now. The tweaks maybe update them a bit, so maybe take a B to a B+ or maybe a B+ to an A-, something like that. Maybe you think differently, but we'll see how much the mix-and-match and if they wear all 12 possible iterations. That will be the make-or-break for these kits. Some of them are very good. Others, well, not so good, yeah we are talking to you purple over black and black over purple!

Uniforms: Commanders -- Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

 By John Turney 

In the last couple of days, the Washington Commanders unveiled a new set of uniforms, two of which are patterned after the old Washington Redskins uniforms introduced in 1979 -- uniforms beloved by Washington fans.

And now they are back, sans the helmet. Plus a black over black kit with a similar logo, but with a spear through ti that has drawn some ire online, but in this day and age, you have to take the good with the bad.

At least the black uniform follows the same striping as the burgundy and white.

These are the old uniforms, the ones the franchise had great success wearing. As you can can see, except for the helmet, they are almost exact duplicates. 

So, the trend back to the middle continues. For a long time Nike went to extremes, with uniforms far outside the NFL mainstream and now the pendulum is swinging back. That is good for the aesthetics of football. No, it can never be the same; the design of the helmets and jerseys, how the sleeves are, the fit, all that does not allow for the same, exact thing to be had. But the trend gets these things as close as they can, given the circumstances and that's a good thing.

Grade: B+

Rams New Uniform Tweaks: And Upgrade

 By John Turney 

The Rams call the "bolder," but they just removed the nonsense. The wordmarks everywhere, the gradient numerals, the split horn shoulder stripe. All those things are better. The egregious horn on the helment, though, remains. 

Gone are the grey uniforms, the so-called "bone," and replaced by white pants and that, too, is an improvement. SO, no grey over grey, no grey over yellow and no grey over blue. Gone. All gone. 

Good.

The short horn was not going to change; they are just too committed to it, so that is life -- you can't have everything, but overall, these look like modern updates of the old Rams uniforms and that is a good thing. 

The bottom line is that these are an upgrade. Slowly but surely, the Nike design of the last decade and a half is being reverted to more classic looks or what amounts to modern versions of classic looks.

The Browns, Jaguars, Lions, Falcons, Commanders and now Rams, some of the worst things Nike did, are now all gone.

Good.

However, there is more. The Rams also posted that there are two more uniforms coming this summer. Speculation is that one will be a yellow jersey to celebrade the days of Crazylegs Hirsch, Tom Fears, Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Deacon Dan Towler, Tank Younger. 

We'll see.

Grade: B (pending the two new kits yet to be released)

The Titans Back to Looking Like the Tennessee Oilers

 By John Turney 

Tennessee Titans new uniforms

The Tennessee Titans rolled out their 2026 uniforms on March 12, and right off the bat, it's clear the franchise is leaning hard into its Houston Oilers heritage. The new set brings back that classic "Luv Ya Blue" vibe with a heavy dose of Titans Blue (that familiar Columbia/light blue) as the primary jersey color, red trim popping where it should, and a cleaner, more retro feel overall. The light blue is "Titans blue" not Columbia Blue. A distinction without a difference.

The home look features light blue jerseys that instantly recall the Oilers' powder-blue classics from the Earl Campbell days—simple, bold, and timeless. They've ditched much of the recent Nike-inspired navy-heavy schemes for this brighter palette, a direct nod to the AFL/NFL era in Houston without fully copying the old derrick logo or exact striping (though the shoulder/yoke elements and red accents clearly show the Oilers influence). 

 The jerseys feature a new, "guitar string" inspired stripe pattern on the sleeves, a "TN" monogram on the collar, and three navy blue stars on the uniform. In our view, the stripe is too thin, even though we get Nike's desire to "connect" with local culture in the explanations, the design still has to work. As a design element, to us, it does not work. It will look like a fat light blue stripe. The red stripe will not be noticeable. Oh well.

The white helmet with a white face mask is also a bit of a disappointment. Red would have been much better. Just not a fan of white lids and white makes. Contrast is king, makes uniforms pop.

Pants stay straightforward having the same stripe design as the sleeves on both the light blue and white models. Heck, we're just happy they have stripes. The socks look to be solid, sans any striping. Not our favorite but par for the course these days. 

It's not a straight throwback; it embraces the Oilers DNA while planting the flag firmly in Tennessee. No overdesigned gimmicks, no unnecessary swooshes cluttering things up—just solid, nostalgic football aesthetics.

Pros: The light blue revival looks sharp on the field, captures the retro vide without feeling forced and mostly does not smack too much of Nike. They are the ones who seemed to have wrecked so many uniforms in the decades. Overall,  a big step up from some of the more muddled recent Titans looks.

Cons:  A few minor tweaks—like perhaps bolder numbers or helmet logo placement—could push it higher. Also the thin red stripe on sleeve falls short.

Overall, solid work. Grading it out: B.

New York Jets To Wear Throwback Uniform in 2024

 By John Turney

Jets' throwback uniform that was announced this week

Starting in 1964 the New York Jets donned their green and white uniforms with the shoulder stripe and two sleeve stripes. The white version was worn in Super Bowl III when the Jets defeated the Colts 16-7.

They wore those through 1977. In 1978 they wore green helmets and jerseys with twin stripes. 

This year they will wear both. 

Earlier this year they announced they have reverted to the kits worn from 1978 through 1989 (there was a slight change from 1990-97).

They will have the same design but the color is what they are calling "Legacy green" as opposed to the old Hunter green.

Here is a graphic from the change of uniforms from earlier this year—

This week the throwback or "Legacy" design was announced as an alternate uniform. Ironically the "Legacy" last year became the usual this year going forward.

So, it's the best of both worlds. And the good part is that the Nike-designed uniforms are gone— hopefully forever.

This jump back to the past is a further indictment of Nike's failed designs. A couple of teams -- the Bucs and Browns went back to nearly identical uniforms they wore before Nike hijacked their uniforms. Now the Jets join them.

Others like the Jaguars and Lions went to a more classic look, though not the same as before. Although the Jaguars announced a throwback earlier this month.

It will be interesting to see if the Rams and/or Falcons also revert when they can—which the Rams can next year. We are not hopeful on that front. We'll see.

Jacksonville Jaguars Announce 'Prowler Throwbacks'

By John Turney

The club calls them "Prowler Throwbacks." and are supposedly based on the  According to the team they are based original 1995 expansion uniforms.

Well, they are close. They are based more on 1998 than 1995. In 1997 they changed the numbers but added black underarm panel and in 1998 they got it right by eliminating that. 

The first couple of years the uniforms had block numerals—

The 1997 rounded numerals and black panel jersey—

Then they settled on this in 1998 and this is what Jags have chosen as thee 1995 Throwback. 

No, they are not from 1995-96 or even 1997 but no matter, the ones from 1998 and after they debuted today are great—

Side note, click here for a good story about the 1997 preseason font by Paul Lukas, the home run king of sports uniforms.

He explains the problem with legibility for the changed number set and the change to what they replaced them with, which is what was the font they used today.

The Jags also brought back their original logo—

There is not much difference ... but might as well make the look complete, rather than mix and match throwback uniforms with the newer logo.

Regardless, there isn't a lot to say -- The Jags get an "A" for these. Goes to show classics almost always look great and these are no exception.

Well done.

Washington Commanders Add Gold Pants

 By John Turney 

This week the Washington Commanders have added gold pants to their uniform kits. 

Thank goodness. 

Previously they had white and burgundy that could be matched with the white and burgundy (red) jerseys—

Okay, not great unis -- one issue is no stripes on any of them -- but if they used just what is show then it would be the best they could do. The problem is when they matched the red with white pants it didn't work.

If you want numerals other than white you need them to match the pants (with the non-monochrome option). It lacks balance ... 

They corrected it so the red over white may be over. Of course, they could still do it but with the gold option the pants match the numerals and make them pop. It also adds balance to the design concept.

It is not as top-heavy as they are with the white pants. 

Still not in love with the uniform set but they did fix one of the problems. Adding stripes to the pants would have been even better -- but we'll take one step at a time.