A potential change to the rule allowing one helmet a year per-NFL player could allow the Buffalo Bills and the entire league to begin adding vintage uniforms to the rotation starting in 2021.
According to a report from Pro Football Talk, the NFL will not change their helmet policy for the upcoming 2020 season, but they are discussing an alteration to the policy for 2021.
The near decade-long rule has forced teams to have just one helmet color, thus removing the possibility of the Bills bringing back their red helmet along with the 1990's uniforms. It has erased the idea of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bringing back their famous creamsicle jerseys, the Philadelphia Eagles from adding kelly green to the mix, or the Tennessee Titans from reviving the Houston Oilers getup.
So many beloved uniforms from the past have been just a memory for fans. All because of a rule that doesn't truly make sense to begin with.
The NFL has said in past years the one helmet rule is for players safety. To reduce the number of concussions around the league.
Although that sounds good, in theory, the rule still never added up.
At the start of the season, players are fitted for their new helmet. Why can't the same process be done twice?
They do it again when players are traded mid-season, right? A player moved at the trade deadline doesn't wear their old team's helmet. So if they can get a second helmet during a season because of a trade, why can't a second fitted helmet be added at the start of the year?
It never truly made sense. Especially for a league that loves to make money, sometimes at all costs. The revenue teams would make from jersey sales alone would be worth the rule change.
How many fans would buy a '90s blue Josh Allen jersey? Exactly.
It is the easiest marketing campaign the league could ever do. Rather than the old tradition of "color rush" jerseys on Thursday Night Football, how about a "Throwback Football Night" where teams always wear classic uniforms?
Sounds like the NFL has finally realized this potential through a rule change, and it could be coming in 2021.