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The Cincinnati Bengals — and the rest of the NFL — got some good news on Thursday with the league electing to permit the usage of alternative helmets starting in 2022.
There was a chance the Bengals would have gotten a big boost to their jersey redesigns as soon as this year because the league considered changing its one-helmet rule. That ultimatley got tabled.
But now, an interesting reversal.
From Michael David Smith of PFT:
“Teams can pair the second helmet with alternate, throwback or Color Rush uniforms, so long as they follow all league policies on ensuring that all alternate helmets are properly fitted, and that all players are provided with sufficient opportunity to wear the alternate helmets in practice prior to wearing them in a game.”
Player safety is a reason for the reversal. Per the writeup, the NFL will now require teams to have alternate sets of helmets ready to go for each player on the roster.
Which could mean the Bengals get creative and go with white-and-black striped helmets to mix things up. Or throwbacks to older versions of the team’s helmet.
Either way, it’s a huge boon for the Bengals and the jersey redesign — and fun to speculate about for the next year.
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