The Denver Broncos are honoring local culture and their franchise’s past as part of their new uniform designs.
Denver unveiled its “Mile High Collection” of new uniforms on Monday, with the jerseys inspired by the Rocky Mountains and the franchise’s history. The Sunset Orange jerseys will serve as the Broncos’ home uniforms, while the Summit White jerseys will be their away uniforms. The Midnight Navy jerseys will be a part of their alternate uniforms.
In addition to unveiling the “Mile High Collection,” the Broncos also released their throwback uniforms, honoring the Orange Crush era from 1977. Just like its uniforms in 1977, Denver’s throwback uniforms are orange with oversized white numbers and a Legacy Blue trim. The pants have an orange and Legacy Blue stripe running down the legs.
The Broncos are also bringing back the Legacy Blue “D” helmets with the Bronco mascot in the middle as part of the alternate look. The helmet was viewed as a fan favorite, wearing them for the majority of John Elway’s time as their quarterback. They retired the helmets after the 1996 season, only wearing them for a special occasion once since then.
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The “Mile High Collection” is the sixth primary uniform in the team’s history, but their first since 1997.
“This has been a thoughtful, collaborative journey that’s involved us listening to voices throughout all of Broncos Country to design the ‘Mile High Collection,’ our modern and inspirational new uniforms for the Denver Broncos,” Broncos president Damani Leech said in a statement. “We’re grateful for the engagement and creativity of ownership, the players, our business and football leadership, Nike and especially the best fans in the NFL during this process.
“As we honor the championship tradition of the Broncos, we’re also committed to innovation and growth during such a transformative time in franchise history. Our new uniforms — the ‘Mile High Collection’ — boldly integrate elements of our past, present and future while paying tribute to Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Region we proudly call home.”
In the “Mile High Collection” uniforms, the jerseys have multiple odes to Colorado. The block-style numbering and the nameplate’s font are similar to Colorado’s national parks signage. A triangle label that reflects a summit marker is included on the outer neck tag and jersey numbers while the inner neck tag has “Broncos Country” and “5280” (the number of feet Denver is above sea level) written on it.
More than 10,000 fans were surveyed about the “Mile High Collection” uniforms as part of the two-year-long process. Broncos players and team personnel also gave input on the changes.
Following their best season in three decades, the Detroit Lions unveiled new uniforms that combined their past with a modern touch on Thursday.
The team reworked their Honolulu Blue home uniforms and their away white uniforms while bringing back their black alternate uniforms. The Ford Bronco actually served as an inspiration for the Lions’ redesign, looking to bring a “fresh look” to the uniforms they wore in the early 1990s. The striping along the uniforms was also inspired by the Ford Mustang, having a similar sleek design.
In addition to the Ford inspiration, the other changes to the home and away uniforms include a “cowcatcher-shaped mesh collar design and a horizontal seam in the shape of a “V.'” The collar design pushes the font further down the chest. They also include a patch under the inside back collar that honors longtime Lions owner William Clay Ford. The inside collar of the home jerseys has “ONE PRIDE” inscribed on it while the away jerseys have “DETROIT” inscribed across the chest for the first time in team history.
“We are excited to launch a new era of Lions football,” Lions team president Rod Wood said in a statement. “Honolulu Blue and Silver has defined the Detroit Lions for generations and I am proud that we found a way to continue to evolve the look with a nod to the past and a focus on the future. The traditional look of our primary jerseys combined with the bold attitude of our alternate jerseys capture the essence of Detroit and the multi-generational fans base that supports us.”
The black alternate uniforms, which were introduced in 2003, are being brought back for the time since 2016, in part, because of Dan Campbell.
“We’re in the draft room literally months into his tenure, and he wore the black when he was here,” Wood told reporters Thursday. “He said, ‘Rod, when can we get the black jerseys back?’
“I said, ‘I’ll make a deal, when you win the division I’ll bring the black jerseys back.’ So I went out on a limb. Thankfully, he delivered. That’s a true story.”
The black jerseys have blue numbers with silver outlining as the “LIONS” wordmark is placed along the chest. “MOTOR CITY” is inscribed in the back color. The jerseys can be paired with the team’s all-black pants or blue pants while they wore blue helmets with uniforms at the unveiling ceremony.
The Cleveland Browns are going back in time to make a tweak to their look for the 2024 NFL season.
White facemasks are returning to the Browns’ helmets, the team shared Wednesday. The team had brown facemasks on their helmet since 2015, rocking the look with the orange helmet.
But prior to 2006, the Browns wore white facemasks with orange helmets for decades. They had the white facemasks from 1975-95 before the team moved to Baltimore. When the Browns returned as an expansion franchise in 1999, the team brought back the orange helmet, white facemask look, keeping it through the end of the 2005 season.
The look is commonly associated with the Browns’ best years in the modern era. They wore white facemasks with orange helmets in the 1980 “Kardiac Kids” season and in the three seasons that Bernie Kosar quarterbacked the team to the AFC Championship Game in the late 1980s. Those remain the only three AFC Championship Game appearances in the franchise’s history.
“We are excited to honor our storied history through the return of the white facemask,” Cleveland Browns Partner JW Johnson said in a statement. “As we continue to write the next chapter of Browns’ history, we reflect on different eras, such as the Kardiac Kids and the return of the franchise, that led us to this place in time.”
The team has brought back the white facemask look on a pair of occasions in recent years, wearing it once in each of the last two seasons. The Browns won both games.
With the facemask change, the Browns will also alter their logo. Their logo previously had a brown facemask with the helmet, but they’ll also feature a white facemask now instead.
“We heard our loyal fans and are thrilled to see the white facemask featured on the Browns’ helmets beginning with the 2024 season and beyond as we continue to write the history of our franchise,” Johnson said.
The Browns have tinkered with their look on a handful of occasions in recent years. They had a major redesign in 2015 with the uniforms before moving back to their more traditional look in 2020. The biggest change they’ve made since 2020 was the addition of their all-white alternate uniforms, which include a mostly white helmet with white pants and jerseys.
The Browns are just one of a handful of teams who are redesigning their uniforms this offseason. Let’s take a look at what other uniform redesigns are coming around the league.
The Jets were the first team to introduce new redesigned uniforms for the 2024 season, unveiling their “legacy collection” jerseys that pay homage to the team’s Sack Exchange era. You can read more about the Jets’ redesign here.
The Houston Texans are set to unveil their new uniforms on Tuesday, April 23. However, the team’s white uniforms were already leaked, updating the way the jersey numbers look.
The Texans logo appears to remain the same in the initial leak.
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