Earlier this month, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quietly unveiled a commemorative logo that celebrates their 50th season, which will presumably be worn as a patch on their uniforms this fall.
However, a since-deleted post on Instagram from Allan Peters – the logo’s designer – suggests the Buccaneers might also reveal a throwback-inspired version of the logo, as well as a white road version of their creamsicle throwback uniforms.
It’s been five years since Tampa Bay unveiled its current uniform set, which would allow the franchise to ditch its pewter “Color Rush” uniforms and introduce another throwback design to complement the creamsicle home version unveiled in 2022.
The Buccaneers didn’t wear their pewter “Color Rush” uniforms – which include a second pair of pewter pants with a red and white striping pattern – at all last season, which already indicated they might be phasing them out of the rotation.
Teams are only permitted to have four jerseys at their disposal and since the Buccaneers are required to keep the home version of their creamsicle throwback uniforms for at least three more seasons, this is the only path for them to add a white road version.
That said, it would be a fitting addition to Tampa Bay’s closet, as the uniform pictured in Peters’ since-deleted post was only worn during their inaugural season in 1976, as evidenced by the fluorescent orange numbers outlined in red.
The “leaked” throwback-inspired version of the Buccaneers’ 50th season logo also features the same design, as the numbers were flipped to red with an fluorescent orange outline the following season and remained until the Buccaneers underwent a significant redesign in 1997.
While the Buccaneers went winless that season, it would make sense for them to introduce the white throwback jerseys this year because they wore their all-white road uniforms in every regular season game and limited their creamsicle orange jerseys to the preseason.
If the white creamsicle uniform comes to fruition, the Buccaneers would join the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers as teams with home and road throwback uniforms at their disposal – though the Saints’ road version is technically their “Color Rush” design.
Don’t expect Tampa Bay to also wear creamsicle pants, though, since those weren’t introduced until 1992 and wouldn’t be historically correct, as they were only worn with the red numbers outlined in fluorescent orange. They’d simply be paired with the same white helmets and pants as the home version.
Additionally, the “leaked” logo – which features “Bucco Bruce” at the bottom – would likely be worn on both the home and road versions of the creamsicle throwback uniforms, while the logo that was unveiled earlier this month and features their current logo would be worn with their standard home and road designs.
As for the error in Peters’ mockup that you might have noticed (the jerseys is missing the red sleeve cuff on the left arm and a seam on the back collar), it was likely an issue when he or the team’s graphic designers exported the layers in Photoshop and not necessarily an indication that it’s fake.
Photos courtesy of @Buccaneers on X/Twitter, screenshots courtesy of @rattrickjerseys on Instagram.
