Honesty time: As we sit here waiting for a verdict on one Deshaun Watson case, a moment that could very well leave us again disappointed in and cynical of the league we cover, the kind of moment that makes you think, What are we even doing here, man? we get distracted by a flurry of new helmets dropped over the weekend. I texted editor Mitch Goldich and said: Let’s rank them. It’s a weird moment, to notice both a personal excitement about a new feature of this year in a league that I’ve watched religiously for more than a decade, and that twinge of unsettling news in the back of your mind; like, are we the marks? Are we falling for the distraction?
And maybe just keeping that in mind is important. The NFL can be both fun and disappointing. No one person, place, object or idea is wholly perfect or imperfect. We can enjoy the following exercise while remaining skeptical of the very same enterprise.
This list combines both new alternates and old throwbacks that will see the field in 2022.
