Entering the 2013 football season the National Football League made a quiet change to its uniform policy requiring all teams to limit their franchise to just one helmet shell for an entire season. Uniwatch has a good FAQ surrounding the recent rule and why it was implemented. Basically, the league was advised in the face of concussion lawsuits that restricting players to one helmet was the safer and smarter course of action. The CFL also adopted the rule in 2019, as well.
However, there has been speculation that the NFL is preparing to rescind the rule for the 2021 season which would open the doors to a plethora of throwback helmet options as well as new updated looks for several teams. You may be thinking, “Wait, I’ve seen teams wear different helmets in recent years what is going on?” That’s because some NFL teams use their one shell and make changes to their decals in order to achieve an alternate or throwback look. Some recent examples from 2020:
Buffalo – Replace the charging bison with a red standing bison.
Chicago – Replace the traditional logo with orange winged decals.
Denver – Replace the charging bronco with a traditional logo.
Detroit – Remove all decals for a blank silver helmet.
LAC – Switch out numerous lightning bolts and player number decals.
Miami – Replace current decals for a throwback logo.
NYG – Remove current logo and gray facemask for throwback logo and white facemask.
Washington – Remove all decals and add gray facemask.
Now, let’s take a look at the old helmets that could come back with a rule change as well as new helmets that I think could be introduced by team’s in the future.
OLD HELMETS
Atlanta (Red)
There were rumors Atlanta was going to bring back the red helmets when they came out with their latest redesign but those dreams were dashed.
This helmet was last seen from 2009-12 when the Falcons wore them as part of their annual throwbacks. But, it was always with their black jerseys and white pants. I miss the days of their gray pants and red jerseys, too.
Buffalo (Red)
AstroTurf and red helmets, that’s the Bills football I grew up with in Western New York. When they switched to these in 1984 they’d wear blue facemasks for 3 seasons during an era when they wore white jerseys at home quite often.
The Bills started wearing their white helmet throwbacks from 2005 until 10, switched to that look full-time in 2011, and the red helmet hasn’t been seen since.
Dallas (White)
The Cowboys wore white helmets like this in their inaugural 1960 season all the way through the 1964 pre-season when they switched to their more famous silver helmets. They’d play the next 40 seasons without bringing this white helmet back.
Dallas wore the helmet with throwbacks at least once per year from 2004 through 2012 but they’ve been on the shelf since the new NFL one-shell rule.
Denver (Light Blue)
As mentioned above, Denver has slapped this throwback logo on their current navy blue helmets accompanied with their Color Rush uniforms in each of the last 5 seasons.
Nothing quite compares to the Orange Crush era of Broncos uniforms, and they continue to have some of the most outdated uniforms all together in football. This helmet would be a welcome return.
New England (White)
The (then) Boston Patriots began as a franchise wearing white helmets in their debut 1960 season with Patriot Pat donning the helmets in 1961 all the way through to 1992 when the Flying Elvis logo and silver helmets took over.
The Patriots actually wore all-white throwbacks in 1994 during the 75th NFL anniversary season, before the white helmet came back in 2002, and then annually again from 2009-12 until the new rule ended things.
Philadelphia (Kelly Green)
The Eagles have actually been one of the franchise’s lobbying the hardest to ditch the one-helmet rule so they can bring back their popular kelly green helmets and uniforms.
Yet, they only wore these uniforms once (2010 opener) in the 1996-2012 window before the one-helmet rule came into effect and after they switched to their current forest green color scheme.
Seattle (Silver)
For some reason, this helmet stirs up so much nostalgia for me. It makes me think of Tecmo Bowl, Starting Lineup figurines, and those bedsheets with the cartoon mascots wearing each team’s helmet.
The Seahawks have gone through 2 redesigns since ditching this helmet and will be hitting the 20-year mark in 2021 without wearing silver. Some talk about a bright green helmet to match their Color Rush uniforms but the silver was such a clean look back in the day.
Tampa Bay (White)
Most of the hubbub about the NFL getting rid of the one-helmet rule came in the spring of 2020 when Bucs head coach Bruce Arians mentioned on the radio that they’d be able to wear their throwback creamsicle uniforms in 2021 when the rule is dropped, although the NFL has not confirmed this yet.
Since switching to their current red and pewter colors in 1997, Tampa has worn these throwbacks 4 times in each of the 2009-12 seasons but not since a switch to a second became illegal.
NEW HELMETS
Arizona (Black) – This is probably a no-brainer for the franchise but they’d need to find a way to pull it off without looking like the Louisville Cardinals.
Baltimore (Purple) – I think this could work primarily as a helmet with their white jerseys so the purple is easier to see.
Carolina (Black) – Some may think teal is the better option but I’d be shocked if the Panthers introduced anything else but a black alternate.
Cincinnati (White/Black) – There are lots of hopeful rumors that the Bengals will introduce this “white bengal” helmet with their Color Rush uniforms which have very little orange in them.
Cleveland (Brown) – A brown colored Cleveland helmet has been talked about for decades.
Green Bay (Metallic Gold) – The Packers almost switched to a metallic gold color in 1994 but thought better of it. Now, are they ready for this alternate?
Las Vegas (Black) – This will happen eventually.
Minnesota (White) – Using their Viking logo as template a yellow helmet with white horns could be attempted but also potentially disastrous. A white helmet might actually look great a la the way LSU looks when they switch to their throwback look.
New Orleans (Black) – The Saints are one of those teams that you know will bring a black helmet out some day if the rules are changed. They briefly wore black helmets during the 1969 pre-season.
The Bills not wearing those red helmets with the beautiful Thurman Thomas/Jim Kelly blue jerseys is one of my underrated uniform tragedies of the 21st century.
I loved those red helmets during the Jim Kelly years and was sad when they moved back to the white ones. But, the white ones have grown on me, however, I prefer the charging logo over the standing one. I would not mind seeing them rotate the red and white helmets every decade
I think it would be pretty cool if the Bills wore their red helmets and blue jerseys at home and wore white helmets with their all-white uniforms on the road.
Somewhere there are some design sheets with that Seahawks helmet in those exact colors but with the modern Seahawk logo on it. I’d put money on it. That would be sharp.