Welcome to a new series here on the network, where I, local jersey concept designer, take some time to talk jersey designs. I hope someone out there sees this and enjoys reading through it. This will become a recurring series on the Network, and you won’t want to miss it. Today, the topic on the Uniform Hour is the worst jersey worn by each NFL team in my personal opinion.
The guidelines are simple. I will be choosing a uniform set I personally dislike and try for a dishonorable mention, but one-off jerseys such as 75th anniversary throwbacks will not be included, mainly to keep anything from the pre super-bowl era off the list, as all those designs are primitive at best, and no one wants to see a list full of ancient throwbacks. Lastly, I want it to be known that this is entirely opinion based. I will mention if fans like them or not, but I fully expect to not be perfect. Anyways, let’s get into it!
Arizona Cardinals
Truthfully, any and all of the Cardinals designs from 2005-2022 could be on here. The busy black stripes outline panels with absolutely no color. The all red set is my least favorite, as it just looks bland and sad. Without any color other than red anywhere, it looks like garbage. The second worst is the black on white alternate they also wore. Why does it exist?
Dishonorable mention goes to their new uniforms. They didn’t really fix any of the problems of looking empty and depressing. They just removed some of the clutter, but they forgot to add stuff to make it look good.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons have an obvious entry onto this list that also happens to be a contender for worst NFL jersey of all time. The gradient just doesn’t look good, and while it’s a new idea, you can see why they wore it just 3 times in 3 years. The Falcons should’ve just gone with a red jersey. The stripe melds into the red on the side, defeating the purpose of having the stripe, and the oversized everything just doesn’t look good with a color changing background.
Dishonorable mention goes to the previous set, with random paneling throughout. The amount of possible combinations is best shown here, but they’ve had other combinations (such as the all red color rush.)
Baltimore Ravens
Now this may have been worn only once, but it’s pretty clear this wasn’t meant to be a one-off. There was a chance this could’ve been used a a regular combo the team wore. Thankfully it wasn’t. The Ravens gold color doesn’t really translate well to pants, and it looks bad with the purple top. I may be overthinking this, but with this being right before the era of the color rush, I fear this may have been an experiment to see if the team could get away with gold jerseys for that. Phew.
The inaugural set gets a mention for being just plain mediocre. Big helmet logo, huge numbers, and thick stripes. It was their first ever design however, and it still isn’t horrible, but it doesn’t get saved from a dishonorable mention.
Buffalo Bills
In 2002, the Bills decided to refresh and evolve their uniform as the era of losing super bowls was finally over by this point, and it was time to look as good as they were going to play. There’s many versions out there, as seen here, but all of them are bad. It’s like the team didn’t know which colors they were going to use. There’s navy blue which was never one of their colors, royal blue in random places, and side paneling, this wasn’t a good era for looks in Buffalo.
My dishonorable mention goes to the all red color rush. There’s too much red here, and that’s never really been one of Buffalo’s main colors. The uniform as a whole isn’t bad, just bright.
Carolina Panthers
Truthfully, the Panthers don’t have any horrible uniform sets in their history, so I chose this home alternate that occasionally gets rolled out. I think powder blue is fairly overrated, but seeing it on black pants just looks plain odd. Maybe seeing it with the slightly updated template will help my opinion on them, but I doubt they will ever become anything good.
Dishonorable mention goes out to the away set not being worn with silver pants. The silver pants are cool, but we’ve never seen them with the white jersey.
Chicago bears
Don’t worry everyone- if the 75th anniversary throwbacks weren’t a one-off, they’d be here no question, but as my regulations say, I must not put them here. I opted to go with the orange alternate with the new helmet. I just don’t like how bright these are. there’s not enough navy to keep the balance of color. I’ve never been a fan of the Bears in orange, but the helmet does it no favors.
The dishonorable mention obviously goes to the 75th anniversary throwbacks. These things are on another level of ugly.
Cincinnati Bengals
This entire era of Bengals uniforms were just bad. Paneling, Bengal stripes inside said paneling, large drop shadow numbers. The away set even has a shoulder yolk, which is almost never seen in the NFL. It’s up to personal preference which combo looks the worst, but these things were outdated by 2010. They stuck around for another painful decade.
The inaugural set for the Bengals looked suspiciously similar to the Cleveland Browns, who team founder Paul Brown also founded years earlier. Only a wordmark on the helmets showed who was who.
Cleveland Browns
The single worst uniform ever worn by Cleveland is the orange on brown look that debuted with the 2015 Nike redesign. Words on the pants, big words on the front, and oversized stripes all contribute to a horrible few seasons for the Browns looks wise. Brown pants don’t look good for this team (unless they are the color rush set.)
The dishonorable mention is pretty simple. Just look at all the combinations of Cleveland chaos in 2016 alone.
Dallas Cowboys
It might be a bit of a hot take, but as I’m not a fan of the Cowboys, I don’t really like the uniform they force us to see almost every game (in 2022 they wore this set 12 times including the playoffs.) It doesn’t even look good. Why don’t the pant colors match the stripe colors which don’t match the helmet logo colors? The jersey design itself gets old after about a month.
My dishonorable mention goes to the alternate/throwback set. You don’t see it often, mainly because it just doesn’t look as good with those shoulder logos and whatnot.
Denver Broncos
Well, if I had allowed myself to choose either of the 2009 AFL throwbacks I would, but they were one-offs. So I just picked the bright orange color rush that I never really liked. The white stripes don’t look good on the bright orange background. They’ve kept it for a few years, and now they introduced an all white helmet to go with it.
Of course the dishonorable mention goes right to the AFL throwbacks. These things are just bad. Like, really bad. They didn’t look good in the AFL, and they shouldn’t have ever showed up in the NFL.
Detroit Lions
A Detroit Lions Blackout uniform can work. The team nearly did it with their color rush, and there’s some concepts out there that would look awesome. However, the team didn’t go with a full color rush style, so for 5 games in the 2000’s they put on a black jersey with silver pants and a silver helmet. This just looks wrong, similar to the Cardinals black jersey of the era. If it’s not a blackout, don’t to it Detroit.
The dishonorable mention goes to the horrible color rush set. The team still chooses to wear this, and it’s lame. The gray is beyond boring, and they couldn’t even be bothered to put stripes on the pants. The Lions refuse to let it die, even going so far as to use their blue alternate helmet with it. Please allow this to die.
Green Bay Packers
These throwback alternates were worn multiple times over multiple seasons, making them eligible for this list. Every time they were worn, fans were desperate to see them go back to the past. The navy and gold look is weird, and the tan pants don’t look the greatest. The Pittsburgh Maulers manage to pull this off much better.
The dishonorable mention goes to their previous throwbacks. They wore these for a few seasons earlier and they looked equally bad.
Houston Texans
The newest team to the NFL has some of the most tame and simple uniforms, so when the changed things up and made an all red set in 2007, it wasn’t going to look great. Having a red alternate was a good call, but when there’s too much of it, it doesn’t look great. Perhaps it’s a lack of dark colors or a mismatched helmet, but this wasn’t a good call.
The dishonorable mention goes to the red helmet alternates. The Texans may be updating their uniforms soon, but I really do hope red isn’t the main color here. There’s just too much of it, especially with red helmets.
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts haven’t got a horrible uniform in their arsenal, but I couldn’t pick their throwbacks- they either look good or weren’t worn enough to get the dubious honor of worst in Colts history- and we haven’t seen the “Indiana Nights” set in action yet, so I went with the most bland set they have. There isn’t much to be done to change it, but I really don’t like how boring the set is.
Dishonorable mention: When the Colts wear different pants, fans hate them so much that they rarely surface again. Consider it a miracle we even got the all-blue set on the field.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars jerseys from 2013-2017 were horrible, but the worst one has to be this mustard-colored abomination. The weird paneling, two-tone helmet and awful base color all contribute to this being one of the worst uniforms in league history. They thankfully got rid of this before the “Sacksonville” season, and the design from the era was ditched just a year after that.
The set from 2009-2012 gets the dishonorable mention as the beginning of the end. Random lines and poorly placed logos make this not look good.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs haven’t ever got a bad uniform, so the most bland set gets chosen for the list. The all white here just looks boring with thin stripes and a limited amount of contrast. Still, this is one of the better looks in the league right now. I can’t really complain about any of the jerseys the Chiefs have revealed over the years, and winning the super bowl a few times means we’re likely to see this be the set for a long time.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders uniforms are boring- but classic. Fans love them, but I find the white jerseys to be boring and empty. It looks like a practice jersey, but the silver pants are quite literally the silver lining as they provide something unique. The Color rush variant looks cooler with silver numbers, as they at least had to think about designing it.
Dishonorable mention goes out to any time the team used gold. It just doesn’t look that good.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers navy-on-white look may not have been awful, but it certainly is worse than the powder blue that basically got shelved for years in favor of it. Seeing the panels that have the lightning bolts in them hurts. It looks weird and bad. This template was not only weird but also sad. The navy color is not something anyone was itching to see. The all navy version cleared up the clutter and looked much, much better.
This can be said about the first iteration of the navy blue jersey as well.
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams color rush uniform was an awful mess, so it must’ve taken a really bad design to top it as the worst in Rams history. Somehow, these awful “bone” jerseys take the cake. The color looks like it needs to be washed after a few years of avoiding a washing machine, and the random yellow stripes just interrupt and look gross. The numbers and wordmark patch get all the same criticism as usual here.
Other atrocious Rams looks include the Color Rush, the other time they chose to wear a yellow jersey, and the navy blue and bronze that just didn’t work, especially when the team couldn’t decide between it, and the royal blue and yellow.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins orange color has always been a nice accent to the teams teal (or aqua) but when used an all-orange setup for a season as their color rush, it was pretty clear that it just doesn’t work. With little blue this thing just burns your eyes, and the white helmet is way out of place. This was thankfully ditched in favor of a full teal color rush, which looks much better. While some may not like an all-teal look, it definitely is better than all orange.
The dishonorable mention goes to the original orange alternate. It still was bad, but it looks better with white pants.
Minnesota Vikings
For 6 years, from 2006-2012, the Vikings wore monstrosities with side paneling with logos interrupting said paneling. The all-purple set is just the worst. There’s too much purple, and also has too much chaos. Only worn a small handful of times in 2007 and 2010, we thankfully didn’t need to see this a lot. Other all-purple sets have looked so much better.
The rest of the jerseys from this era belong in the dishonorable mentions. With all the problems these uniforms had, they at least were creative and stood out among the rest of the NFL teams, although is this really a good thing?
New England Patriots
The uniforms worn during much of the Drew Bledsoe era were not that great. while the team finally went to blue, they had drop shadow numbers, (which never go over well) slight pinstripes (which you can barely see and only distract from the design) and of course the huge shoulder logo. This just didn’t make sense. Fans were burned that Pat Patriot was gone, and this was not only rubbing it in, but also looked bad.
The dishonorable mention goes to their silver alternate. This one is more forgotten and also unnecessary. The silver pants are cool though.
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints don’t have a horrible set in their history,except for this. The pants without stripes look more than boring, and then mismatching the black and white just doesn’t look good. There isn’t much to look at here, and it looks so bland. I’d much rather see the gold stripe on the pants, even though some fans may not agree with me there.
The dishonorable mention goes to anything with mustard pants. While the jersey is better than the typical ones, the pants color suffers the same problem as the Ravens golden pants.
New York Giants
When the Giants revealed a red uniform in 2004, it looked like they were trying to trick opponents into not hitting Eli Manning at practice. My problem is that I don’t like the Giants having red. I prefer more blue from the team, so seeing an entirely red jersey is just so meh. This really does look like a QB practice jersey.
The dishonorable mention comes from when the Giants played at Shea stadium. These uniforms just seem to have too much going on at all times, made even worse by the weird logo on the helmet.
New York Jets
If the New York Titans throwbacks were eligible, they’d be here. Instead we have a color rush jersey that really had no reason to exist. With an all-green set already in existence at this time, the lighter green and occasional black made no sense. Plus the first ever introduction was a bad one, as they played the Bills who wore all red the same game. Colorblind NFL fans must’ve had a fit.
As promised, the New York Titans throwbacks gets the dishonorable mention. Mainly due to a weird color scheme and slightly oddball design.
Philadelphia Eagles
Another throwback gets saved my my rules, so instead this often forgotten combo gets on the list. The black alternate the Eagles have worn for rivalry games since 2003 started out without matching pants or a matching helmet. This made it look weird and rightfully hated, but now with matching everything, the black alternate has been salvaged.
While the Eagles look they wear currently started out looking like a disgusting blue-green, the 2007 throwback uniforms speak for themselves with how truly awful they are.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The only bad looks the Steelers have worn are throwbacks, and the bumblebee ones barely squeak in as they were worn for multiple, grueling seasons. The sock commitment is cool, but is the only positive this jersey set can claim. These may be the worst uniforms ever worn in the NFL. It’s a shame that fans wanted these to return year after year.
Dishonorable mention goes to the 1994 throwback. This things looks nearly as bad as the bumblebees, but thankfully only stuck around for a year.
Seattle Seahawks
The original neon green uniforms are just bad. While they may have only been worn once, they were intended to become a regular fixture in Seattle’s lineup, as well as it not being a temporary throwback. However, this one just misses the mark. The green works well when it’s all you can see (even if it burns the eyes a little) but with navy pants, this just doesn’t work. The navy shoulder area and the thin green stripe on the pants just don’t look all that great.
While some may be looking for the newer “action green” color rush, I would rather put this version in as it suffers from similar problems as the 2009 alternate. However, these pale in comparison to the depressed and boring navy blue sets worn during the same era. These were just boring.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers just don’t have a bad look. While fans despised this enough that it gets into the list, I don’t hate it. The Niners just never seemed like the team to wear a two-tone blackout jersey. Maybe a matching helmet would make this better, but fans despised this so much it got discontinued after 3 seasons. Still, I quite like it, but not as much as the rest of San Francisco’s uniform offerings.
The second weakest jersey the 49ers ever wore has to be the all white set, whether it’s the throwback version or the original. I still like it, but all white is almost always more boring than any other version.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Man the Bucs uniforms during this era were rough, but the all-red color rush takes the cake as the worst. White the design isn’t nearly a busy, there’s still a lot to hate. The random shapes disguised as stripes are out of place, and the number font is still quite ugly.
It’s hard to appreciate anything this team did from 2014-2019. These just are busy messes. As well, I’m not a fan of the “Creamsicle” stuff either. I especially don’t like the logo, and the orange and red mix is just a weird choice.
Tennessee Titans
The Titans current looks are so bad, but the specific combination of powder blue and navy just doesn’t look good. The pants have a grayscale trapezoid instead of a stripe, and the swords on the shoulders come right out of arena football. This just doesn’t look good.
The rest of the current set gets in here as well. I really dislike the mediocre design, but the amount of color combinations is at least a positive.
Washington Commanders
Want a uniform set that has almost nothing on it, but what little is there looks awful? Well become a Commanders fan and for the time being, your wish is granted. I despise the stencil look, and the lack of stripes is just lame. I hate these jerseys.
I also hate the rest of the Commanders current uniforms, they are among the worst in the entire league. You know you did bad when the best look in the set is a blackout uniform without any burgundy. I’ll also throw a bone to the fans who hate the old throwback look.
The final thoughts on the NFL’s worst looks
Sometimes, teams fail to make good looks, but you might really love a few of these jerseys, so I would like to state once more that this is what I think are the worst. I’d love to hear what other’s think of this list and even see a few other lists as well. This was a fun list to make and a great introduction to the Uniform hour series here on Shady Sports Network! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, we’ll catch you again here on the Network!
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