This season, 14 teams will have an alternate or throwback helmet to be paired with alternate, classic and/or color rush uniforms: pic.twitter.com/qSG8RfxxWz
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 25, 2022
A total of 14 NFL teams will wear alternate helmets this season according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
You’ll find that the Kansas City Chiefs are not among those teams, but could they be in the future? Chiefs team president Mark Donovan spoke at the team’s opening press conference at training camp, where he was asked about the potential for an alternate uniform or helmet in the future. The Chiefs have long honored the tradition of their uniform, but with current league trends, they could be swayed to adopt an alternate uniform.
“To honor tradition is one of our core, fundamental values,” Donovan told reporters. “But I go back to that balance point of — if you look, more and more and especially this season — it just seems like with all the black helmets coming out and all the alternative uniforms that are out there.”
Back in 2018, Donovan was singing a completely different tune. While he’s not in the business of creating false hope within the fanbase, he did say that the team is having an open discussion about it and that it’s being considered more now than ever before.
“I don’t want to create hope where there isn’t hope, but I will say this. . . there’s an open discussion,” Donovan continued. “There is definitely more of a consideration than there has ever been. We definitely, we’ve had some good conversations about the opportunity. But, as you can imagine, I think we’re the only team or among a small group that has never changed uniforms more than a little bit on the stripe or something like that. That’s important to us too. So it’s finding that balance again. I’ve been here 14 seasons now and in the first couple of years — I came from Philadelphia where we did that pretty successfully and I was really excited about that. After the first meeting talking about (uniform changes), I didn’t bring it up again for a couple of years. But a couple of our teammates on our side kept pushing me and we have opened the discussion again.”
The team has not come to a decision on alternate helmets or uniforms yet, but the discussion will continue and won’t be made hastily. It will all be about finding the right balance between tradition and what is now becoming a trend among NFL teams.
“We’ll see,” Donavan concluded. “This is definitely something we’ll continue to discuss.”
