It’s September, which means that the cool, autumn wind is slowly beginning to creep into the air. That can only mean one thing — The NFL season is about to get underway! In this article, we’ll be covering the major changes and/or uniform updates that we’ve managed to come across so far during the offseason. If a team isn’t mentioned below, that means that you probably won’t see any major changes from them this season, so you should expect them to look relatively normal. However, there is one big change that every team will be making, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s get into the roundup!
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League in General
The league’s 12-month obsession with gold has come to an end, which means that the normal red-white-and-blue NFL shield that we all know and love will be returning to the field and everything else that’s related to the NFL. Everything is back to normal, folks.
Meanwhile, the big news is that every single team in the league will be participating in the Color Rush program. Earlier in this offseason, there was a catalog sheet that appeared to show the colors that each team would be wearing for their Color Rush game. However, the sheet also said in big, bold letters that the designs are “subject to change,” and evidence of that is the fact that even though the Steelers are listed as wearing yellow in that sheet, the team themselves have confirmed that they’ll be wearing all-black. So, all we know is that every team will have a Color Rush uniform, for some teams, we probably won’t know what they’re wearing until the official unveiling occurs.
Atlanta Falcons
They won’t be changing their uniforms this season, and there’s no indication that they’ll be bringing back their black alternate jersey and pants — unless it’s part of the Color Rush. Instead, the focus for the Falcons appears to be on next season, which will be the first in their brand-new stadium. They’ve already indicated that they’re interested in bringing a throwback uniform with them to the new stadium. However, when you consider the NFL’s one-helmet rule, that limits them to their 1990s-early 2000s look.
As far as the Color Rush is concerned, the CEO of the Falcons has indicated that we might be seeing an all-red look for Atlanta.
Baltimore Ravens
While we don’t know exactly what the Ravens will look like for their Color Rush game against the Steelers, we do know that the uniform color will apparently be white, so there’s that.
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are one of those cool teams that releases their uniform schedule before the season starts, and they’ve done it again for the 2016 season. They also announced that they’ll be bringing back their (excellent) Color Rush combo from last season for Week 11.
Chicago Bears
Just like the Panthers, the Bears have also released their uniform schedule. Interestingly enough, they’ll be wearing their home jerseys for away games on three different occasions this season — At Houston, at Dallas, and at Tampa Bay. They will also continue to wear their dull throwbacks for two games. Also, they will be doing the Color Rush with the Packers for Week 7.
Denver Broncos
The defending Super Bowl champs are probably going to have some very interesting-looking uniforms for the Color Rush. While we don’t know for sure what the uniforms will look like, there’s been plenty of speculation that Denver is going to get creative with their Color Rush look, and it’s all due to a helmet shell that was seen in a video that they posted on facebook during the offseason.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that this is just a custom/prototype helmet, but it’s still very interesting to see a helmet with throwback striping on it, instead of the striping that they’ve had since going to their current look back in the 1990s.
Detroit Lions
The Lions were the team that broke open the lid on the league-wide Color Rush rumors, and they’ve also had the most active offseason when it comes to logo/uniform speculation. One thing is for certain: They will update their uniforms for next season, and will also have throwbacks to go with those updated uniforms. As far as this season is concerned, nothing new is on the way, so we’ll have to wait until next year to see something new from Detroit. They’ve given us a full year to get ready, though.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers have confirmed that they’ll once again be wearing the Curly Lambeau-era blue-and-gold throwbacks for this season.
Houston Texans
Houston is another one of those nice teams who gave us a uniform schedule (for at least their home games) to go by. They’ll be opening up the season with a white-out, and their annual Battle Red game will be on Week 15.
Indianapolis Colts
There were rumors that the Colts would be wearing their Color Rush uniforms against the Steelers on Thanksgiving night, but the Steelers threw a spanner in the works when they announced that their Color Rush game would come on Christmas night. That coincided with a rumor that the Colts would be wearing all-white. While that still might be the case, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that we’ll probably see an all-blue look for the Colts, just to switch things up a bit.
Los Angeles Rams
For starters, the Rams are in a new/old city. They’ve given their logo a slight update and also updated an old wordmark logo for their return to the city of Angels. In addition, the Rams have announced that they’ll be wearing their all-white combo for all of their home games. Seeing them in blue this season will be a rarity.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins have released their home uniform schedule for this season. They’re scheduled to wear all-white for four home games, aqua jerseys for two home games, and then those beautiful throwbacks will be on display for two games. In addition, they confirmed that they’ll be wearing their Color Rush uniforms in Week 4 against the Bengals.
New Orleans Saints
Two things that are confirmed for the Saints — They will be wearing a patch for their 50th season, and the logo will also adorn the 50-yard-line on the field at the Superdome. Additionally, they will also be wearing a special sticker on their helmet in honor of career Saints player Will Smith, who was tragically killed during the offseason.
Also, there’s a rumor that the Saints may be bringing back their 1967 throwbacks. This is actually a pretty feasible rumor to believe, and the sole reason for this is that they wouldn’t have to change helmets. All they need to do is change the facemask to gray and switch out the primary helmet sticker, and they’d have the helmet ready to go. Plus, as CCSLC User Old School Fool noted over on our forums, the uniform is in Madden 17 with the 50th Season patch included. Now, throwbacks in a video game aren’t necessarily proof that they’ll actually be worn on the field, but this is still a pretty reasonable rumor to go with, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Saints wearing throwbacks at some point this season.
New York Giants
The G-Men will be wearing white pants at home throughout the entire season, with the gray pants being used as bottoms for their road set.
Oakland Raiders
Now that the Raiders have fully embraced the new Nike template, this has resulted in an extremely minor change — The silver numbers on the home jersey are now outlined in black. I’m just as confused as you are as to why they did this.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Are you a fan of the “Bumblebee” throwbacks? If so, you have reason to feel good because the Steelers will once again be wearing them this season. Also, as we noted in our initial talk about the Color Rush, the Steelers will be wearing all-black uniforms, and it will happen for their Christmas Day game against the Ravens.
San Francisco 49ers
They will be wearing a special patch for their 70th year in the league. It’s not great. Also, the black uniforms will probably be returning for this upcoming season. Again, not great.
Tennessee Titans
This is another team that had more rumors this offseason about the future than the present. The biggest rumor came from one of the owners of the team, who stated that the team may be updating their uniforms soon, while mostly leaving the logo untouched. We’ll have to see what comes of this.
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That covers most of the big changes and uniform news from this offseason. If we missed anything, feel free to let us know in the comments below. Also, which uniform are you most excited to see on the field this season? Is there any look that you’re dreading to see? Let us know what you think!
Related stories:
Pittsburgh Steelers will have new throwbacks for 2018 season 
Dallas Cowboys will wear white pants with primary navy jerseys 
New Orleans Saints finally fix their collars 
NFL may allow teams to opt out of wearing “garish” Color Rush uniforms 
LA Rams will evolve identity for 2017-18; Confirm new unis for 2019 The Steelers are finally retiring the bumblebee throwbacks 
Pittsburgh Steelers will wear all-black for Color Rush on Christmas 
Logo Links Mar 12, 2012: Colts Firearm Returns; New Minor League Logo