Taking a Look at the Lions’ New Uniforms

Last Thursday night, the Detroit Lions held an event and Facebook Lived their unveiling of the brand new uniforms for the next era of Detroit Lions football. The last changes, other than the NFL brand switch to Nike, came after the dreaded 0-16 season. Those changes were minor, with slight tinkering to the lettering and cutting their black jersey alternate. These changes though ended up being a complete overhaul of the team we love. Here’s a link to the full photo gallery of them for reference before we start. And once you’re ready we’ll go over each combination and watch me try my best at being a fashion blogger.

Home (Blue)

Some things never really change. The font here has changed to match the new logo font, which I love. The last font was supposed to be slightly wild just like a lion, but I never really saw it as anything other than corny. The number on the jersey sees a change as well with the loss of black from the color scheme. It’s like the Lions are trying to erase all the memories from Harrington until today.

I think the best part about these new jerseys though is the William Clay Ford sleeve decal. Where the team has been wearing a patch on their chest since his passing, this cements him as part of their uniform for good. Say what you want about the Fords, but I think this is a great tribute to a top-notch owner.

The loss of black also changes the team’s helmet design. The three blue stripes on the top are fine and don’t really stand out as different than what they had before. The facemask, however, has changed to a silver, which I’m still on the fence about. I guess they really didn’t have too much to work with there, so I’ll let this one slide.

Away (White)

Okay, I’ll be honest, I did not see this one coming. The Lions’ white jerseys have always been one of, if not my favorite in the league. The way that the blue and white compliment each other is awesome. They’re bright but clean. They don’t overload my eye like the neon Seahawk uniforms, but they almost stand out the same. The silver outline on the numbering is just enough to contrast both the blue and black, but still, allow the blue to pop.

So now we get to the best part. BLUE PANTS. This sight rocked my world. I was so ready to be disappointed as they chose to stick with the silver pants and white jersey combo. The white jerseys have always been so cool to me, but I never liked the way silver pants looked with them. I was praying that Detroit would go with white on white to finally rid that ugly pairing, but this is even better. Seriously though, I don’t know why I never even considered blue pants. Maybe because I just had given up hope that the terrible silvers would ever go away. But these look awesome. As I said before, the Lions have an awesome blue, and showing it off as much as possible is good with me.

All this being said, a piece of me still wishes they came out with white helmets. Something about all white on top and color starting at the pants just makes a team look swaggy. And if NFL players wearing shooting sleeves has proved anything, it’s that the better you look the better you look making a bad play.

Color Rush (Gray)

The Detroit Lions wearing full muted gray and nothing but muted gray is what I never knew I always needed. I thought the color rush jerseys would just be a cop out and go all blue. (Because we all really need to see another fully blue color rush uniform.) But these are just crispy. Honestly, what might be the best part about these is nobody knows if they are home or away jerseys. Just think, how mad would you be if your team was wearing color rush jerseys and they had to wear their white ones instead. These have a chance of being on the field while another team wears a color, and not making the game unbearable for colorblind viewers.

The numbers on these jerseys pop perfectly. The choice of white with a blue outline looks great. Also, these jerseys show the sleeves better than any other. Both Lions and WCF written in white on the blue stripes shows very well. Without a doubt, these are going to be the jerseys flying off the shelf, and I don’t blame anybody for momentarily pausing from reading this to go buy one online.

Throwback (Turkey Day)

You know what, I’ve liked just about everything up until now. This really has nothing to do with the new design, because well, it’s not really new. These jerseys are now just considered alternates, which means that they might see the field more often than once a season. That alone makes me like these less than I previously did.

You know what these uniforms remind me of? The Thanksgiving game against the Patriots where Alphonso Smith was torched all day by Tom Brady and co. I’m sure the turkey was dry that year and my mom spilled the mashed potatoes on her way to the table with them too. I get that they’re traditional, but isn’t the Lions tradition what so many fans have a problem with? I thought mixing these jerseys up was a way of saying they aren’t that team anymore.

Another thing I don’t really like here is that the WCF decal is nonexistent. Hopefully, they still do something with it here, such as on the back of the helmets, because I think it’s a great touch overall.

I guess if I have to say something nice here I will say just a clean helmet is pretty cool. It’s something that isn’t really done nowadays, and that’s slightly surprising. But that’s all the love I’m giving to these uniforms because we’ve all seen this before.

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