Evaluating NFL Uniforms by Division - NFC West
The NFC West consists of the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. Most people hate the Cardinals and Rams unis and some hate the Seahawks unis, leaving the 49ers as the favorite. What do I think? I'm sure you already know after almost a year and a half of doing this, but I'm going into a bit more detail this time. Let's begin.
Arizona Cardinals
It's surprising how recent these were unveiled. On one hand, they definitely looked fine upon that point. On the other hand, they are the dry raisin of all NFL uniforms today. They're ugly, and need to be changed ASAP. It will be a dissapointing uniform season if they don't go away from this. What sucks about it? The piping and pants stripe make it very ugly, and it's a big factor. It's much worse on the white jersey, which many teams in the early 2000s ruined all the same with too much of one color. It's a mess and inequality on the white jersey. The other factor is the boring helmet. White on gray is the most shallow color combo for shells and facemasks and too old fashioned, not to mention no helmet stripe. I don't hate the usage of black, but the standard black jersey is very depressing, bland and ugly, and while the color rush is better, the piping ruins it. It's only advantages are the logo on the helmet, which isn't relevant because it's not distinctive like the Bengals or Vikings for example, the colors, and the numbers and wordmarks. Those last two things are fairly stale, but they are very serviceable. This jersey will need some changes.
Changes:
- All the piping and sloppyness? Gone. A huge weight would be lifted from that.
- The facemask becomes red. Just because you're the oldest franchise in the league doesn't mean you have to appear so.
- A simpler pants stripe, just two red stripes, maybe black accents. Other Arizona colors is up to open interpretation.
- The first big thing is any Arizona flag design on the sleeves, it can be just red and white, white or yellow, completely consistent, that's a good, inspired design that people already love to see in mockups. It would be nice to see just red on both the white and black jerseys as well. Those TV numbers should stay on the shoulders.
- Here's an optional choice, the black is simply removed entirely, or just from the red jersey. I've seen minimalistic, yet sleek and modern designs work and it can truly be effective.
In conclusion, the Cardinals, for having a teenaged year look, have ugly uniforms that are outdated in their own right. Also, I already had more to say about them than the other teams, so I'm scared for what's up next.
Los Angeles Rams*
The Rams look is so bad, I couldn't even fit it into this article. I have just too many things to say about their current look. There's something about the Rams uniforms, and that's everything, that makes me lose my ability to simplify things. A whole new article has been done to accomodate them, as I probably should've from the beginning. If I do have to simplify it, it goes like this: It's designs don't represent the franchise's brand, it's got too many confusing and/or frustrating and pointless designs, the bone jersey and the patches and tags limit it from leaving the bottom 2 uniforms in the NFL, and that's a fact, and they had plenty of opportunity to capitalize on an iconic and unique brand history that has spanned multiple generations instead of focusing on a specific time, purpose, stadium, or age range. It all stems from the godawful logos and most importantly, the atrocious new horn. That's all I have to say but feel free to read the full article here: https://www.behance.net/gallery/140210559/Evaluating-NFL-Uniforms-by-Divison-Los-Angeles-Rams
San Francisco 49ers
A lot of what needs to be said about the 49ers uniforms have already been said about many other teams. One thing for certain, this is one of many looks that are defined by the success of the teams and players that have worn these, creating a legacy that this look tries to associate itself with. Since going back to this look, albeit one with some small changes, they've made two Super Bowl appearances. Both were losses. While this look carries the roots of a dynasty team, it needs a bit of work to be perfect, and it's close. Here are the changes I would make to the uniform:
Changes:
- Easily the first change I'd make is adding a third stripe to the sleeves, which the throwbacks consists of. I love that stripe setup, it's clean.
- The stripes should go back on the socks, which would open the door to white socks being used with the white jerseys more effectively. This also applies to the throwbacks, which for some reason they lack them.
- This is the biggest optional, the wordmark gets removed. If we're talking serious clean and consistency points, I approve. Otherwise, it's not a bad feature.
- If possible, the pants stripe should match the helmet stripe in thickness as the former is just a bit wider. I might be nitpicking though, making this an optional choice.
- Normally the logo on the helmet wouldn't matter if it were just that, but there could be a change. An optional choice is to fill in the gold in the logo on the helmet.
In conclusion, the 49ers have a simple, clean and traditional look that's nicely inspired by the Joe Montanta dynasty look that made the 49ers a winning franchise. Few little changes, and it's perfect.
Seattle Seahawks
The first of Nike's redesigns, this one was actuall fairly successful. It did get them a Super Bowl win, and back-to-back appearances, as well as making them frequent divisional winners in the 2010's. As far as the uniforms go, I think they're progressive, yet also very appealing. The navy and action green color scheme is unique and matches their loud and proud fanbase, and I like some energetic colors. I hope they keep it to balance the navy/royal ratio for NFL teams. As for the green, they can make a lot work, but I hope it isn't their original green. Something exciting. They've got some great combos and unique designs, like the feather. It's hard to distinguish ideas from changes I'd make so whatever goes goes for this team.
Changes:
- If there's one thing that needs to be done, it's trim the stripes on the front of the jersey so the gray part of the stripe stays on the sleeve.
- The swoosh area on the sleeve should be green on the white and grey jerseys.
- The first optional is putting the wordmark on the chest provided that top thing does happen. I think it'd make for great support.
- The wolf grey should pretty much be silver. Gray is seen as drab as a flat fabric and I agree.
- Another optional is adding gray to the blue pants stripe, and green to the white and grey pants stripes.
- Despite what I said above, I really like their navy/grey and white/grey combos, so they should use those more.
- Last optional, silver helmets but the stripe has to look good and the facemask should still be navy.
In conclusion, for being the first Nike redesign, the Seahawks look decent. These have created a legacy for themselves and I really hope this direction remains for generations to come.
There you have it! That's the NFC West. It's a pretty indecisive division with historic teams. Half is atrocious, the others are good, if not great. Half the teams need to stick to history and brand faithfulness and the others need to be clean if they're going to be innovative. I hope you all enjoyed this!
