Tag: alternate helmet

Here’s why the Broncos can’t wear an all-white alternate uniform

The NFL requires a designated “alternate jersey” worn with an “alternate helmet.” For the Broncos, that’s a blue jersey and white helmet.

The Denver Broncos unveiled their new uniforms on Monday that feature a “Sunset Orange” home look, a “Summit White” road look and a “Midnight Navy” alternate look.

The Broncos can do some mixing and matching to a certain degree, but there are limits to how many color combinations the team will be allowed to wear.

For example, the NFL requires clubs to wear their “alternate helmet” with their “alternate jersey.” As Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com has correctly pointed out on Twitter/X, Denver’s “alternate jersey” is navy blue.

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That means the Broncos will be required to wear the dark blue jersey when they break out their alternate white helmet. Denver can’t wear it’s white “road” jersey with its white “alternate” helmet. Unless the Broncos introduce an “alternate” white jersey, the team can’t wear an all-white alternate uniform in 2024.

That’s why the white helmet is shown with the navy jersey in the team’s promotional photos on social media:

Denver can also only wear an alternate or throwback up to three times per season, so every time the Broncos wear the blue alternate jersey will mark one less time the team can wear the fan-favorite throwback jersey. Certainly not an ideal scenario, but fans in Denver will undoubtedly be delighted to see the throwbacks worn any number of times in 2024.

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More thoughts on the Broncos’ uniform rumors

The Broncos told KOA Radio that the uniform concept floating around on social media has never been discussed by the team.

Last week, we passed along information from Mario Vetanze describing what the Denver Broncos’ next uniform will look like. Based on the descriptions from Vetanze and an anonymous poster on the Broncos’ forums, several fans created mockups of the upcoming uniform changes.

The most notable (and perhaps most controversial) changes were adding mountains to the shoulders and switching to a white helmet. It turns out those details might not be accurate.

After mockups with the mountains went viral on social media last week, the team got word out through KOA Radio’s Benjamin Allbright that such a design has never even been discussed by the club.

It’s hard to take that statement as completely truthful because Vetanze described what was described to him, and the people who leaked information to him had to have based it on something (perhaps early concept designs).

Vetanze said in an interview with Paul Lukas of Uni Watch that two people who briefly saw the uniforms described them to him. Vetanze did not specifically say his two sources were team players, but the massage therapist lists Broncos players among his clients on his website.

We know that the Broncos involved their team captains in the process of switching to a new alternate white helmet, and we know from Twitter/X that Vetanze seems to have a working relationship with safeties Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson (who were team captains in 2023).

Whoever it was that leaked descriptions to Vetanze, they likely described something they really saw. Whether they saw just a concept design or the final design is uncertain. The team claims no design resembling the recent concept leaks has ever been discussed.

Based on that response from the team, it’s probably safe to assume the final design won’t look like the fan mockups that went viral last week. We’re skeptical that such a design was never discussed at any point, however.

During his end-of-season press conference last week, team owner/CEO Greg Penner indicated that the process has taken longer than he expected.

“Nothing to announce on new uniforms today,” Penner said on Jan. 9. “That’s also been [some] learning for me. I just figured when you wanted to change your uniforms, you just made a new uniform. But boy, it’s a several-year process with the league and Nike to get there. We’ll be having some things coming there in the future, but nothing to announce today.”

The Walton-Penner family purchased the Broncos in late summer 2022. Getting a new uniform designed and approved in time for 2023 was too short of a turnaround. It remains to be seen if a new look will arrive before the 2024 campaign.

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Broncos will wear alternate white helmet on Christmas Eve

The Broncos will wear their alternate “snow-capped” white helmet against the Patriots on Christmas Eve.

The weather forecast is calling for a white Christmas in Denver this year, and fittingly, the Broncos are breaking out their “snow-capped” alternate helmets for a festive Christmas Eve showdown with the Patriots in Week 16.

Denver will wear its orange Color Rush uniform and a white alternate helmet against New England on Sunday night. The game will mark the third time the Broncos have worn an alternate uniform in 2023.

Denver previously wore its new white helmet in Week 5 against the New York Jets, a 31-21 loss. The Broncos then wore an all-blue alternate uniform in Week 11 against the Minnesota Vikings in a 21-20 win.

Going up against the Patriots on Sunday, Denver will aim to improve to 2-1 wearing alternates this season.

Eventually, the Broncos will have new primary uniforms. Team president Damani Leech confirmed in July that Denver is working on a new uniform. Whether or not that new design arrives in time for the 2024 season remains to be seen. In the meantime, Broncos fans can enjoy the new alternate look.

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Broncos to wear alternate white helmet vs. Jets this week

The Broncos are set to debut their white alternate helmet against the Jets on Sunday.

The Denver Broncos are set to debut their new white helmet when they host the New York Jets in Week 5.

The alternate helmet will be worn with the team’s Color Rush uniform in 2023. After wearing the white helmet for the first time against the Jets on Sunday, the Broncos will wear their Color Rush uniform again at home against the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve.

In addition to a pair of white helmet games, Denver will have a third alternate uniform game when they wear blue jerseys against the Minnesota Vikings at home on Sunday Night Football in Week 11.

The Broncos will eventually get new uniforms, but in the meantime, the alternate looks are a nice changeup from the typical orange uniform. Two of Denver’s alternate looks will be worn in prime time this fall.

The Broncos have four prime-time games on their 2023 schedule, and there’s a possibility of being flexed into more prime-time spots later in the year.

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Broncos will wear alternate uniforms 3 times in 2023

The Broncos will wear white helmets against the Jets and Patriots, blue jerseys against the Vikings and orange jerseys in Miami this fall.

The Denver Broncos will wear alternate uniforms three times this season, the team announced Monday.

First, the Broncos will wear their orange Color Rush jerseys with their new white helmet against the New York Jets in Week 5.

After that, Denver will wear blue jerseys against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football in Week 11.

To wrap up their alternate schedule, the Broncos will wear orange Color Rush jerseys again with a white helmet against the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve in Week 16.

Denver will wear its standard orange jerseys for four other home games at Empower Field at Mile High this fall and white jerseys at home against the Washington Commanders in Week 2.

With the Miami Dolphins wearing white at home in September, the Broncos are also set to wear orange jerseys on the road in Miami in Week 3. Denver will wear its standard white uniforms for its eight other road games this season.

The Broncos will open the season against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1.

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Broncos will wear new alternate white helmet in 2 games this season

The Broncos will wear their white alternate helmet against the Jets (Week 5) and against the Patriots (Week 16; Christmas Eve) this season.

The Denver Broncos will wear alternate uniforms at least two times during the 2023 NFL season, the team announced Thursday.

The Broncos will wear their new white alternate helmet. in a pair of Color Rush games this fall. Their first Color Rush game will be a Week 5 showdown with the New York Jets on Oct. 8.

The club’s second Color Rush game will be against the New England Patriots in a Christmas Eve game in Week 16. That Dec. 24 game will be nationally televised on NFL Network.

The Broncos typically wear an alternate uniform three times during a season. Denver has not yet announced a potential third alternate game which would presumably feature their alternate blue jersey.

The Broncos unveiled their original Color Rush uniform in 2016. The team went 3-4 wearing the all-orange alternate uniform with a navy blue helmet. Going forward, the team’s Color Rush games will now feature the club’s new alternate white helmet.

Denver will open the 2023 season at home against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 10. The Broncos have four prime-time games on their schedule.

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Broncos got input from players for new alternate helmet

“The uniform is almost like a super suit. When they come out onto the field, what they are wearing should be motivating and inspiring.”

The Denver Broncos will break out a new alternate helmet during the 2023 season this fall.

Last month, the Broncos unveiled a white helmet with a throwback “D” logo. They have dubbed it their “Snowcapped” helmet, a nod to the Rockies.

Denver involved players in the process of choosing a new alternate helmet, and safety Justin Simmons served as a model for photos to show team ownership.

“Our players were very involved,” team president Damani Leech said on July 26. “With our full group of captains. We had several meetings with them, as we said. We showed them color palettes, and ultimately, we narrowed it down to a few. … 

“[They were] heavily involved, and I think it’s important to have them involved. They have to wear it. We talked about how the uniform is almost like a super suit. When they come out onto the field, what they are wearing should be motivating and inspiring to them. It’s important. They have to wear it, so their input is really important.”

The Broncos will wear the new alternate helmet with their existing Color Rush uniforms this fall. The new helmet has received mixed reviews from fans, but nobody will complain if the team wins games with the new look.

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Broncos Wire podcast: Injuries, Nathaniel Hackett, Hall of Fame and more

On the latest Broncos Wire podcast, Ryan O’Leary and Jon Heath recap the injury updates, Hackett drama, Hall of Fame semifinalists and more.

The Denver Broncos had quite an eventual first week of training camp.

To break down all the news and updates, I joined host Ryan O’Leary on the Broncos Wire podcast to recap and react to the latest developments. You can listen to episode No. 82 below:

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Our unedited notes for this week’s pod can be seen below. 

Tim Patrick and KJ Hamler injuries 
  • Patrick, 29, suffered a non-contact Achilles tear on Monday. He will be placed on IR and miss the entire 2023 season. Patrick also missed the entire 2022 season with a torn ACL. He signed a three-year, $34 million contract extension late in the 2021 season and will now miss 34-straight games. Patrick has a potential out in his contract next spring. If the Broncos bring him back, Patrick will turn 31 during the 2024 season and have a $13 million salary cap hit.
  • Hamler, 24, was diagnosed with pericarditis, which he called a “mild heart irritation.” The Broncos waived him with a non-football illness designation. If they placed him on the reserve/NFI list, Hamler would have been ruled out for the entire 2023 season. Instead, Sean Payton said Hamler will need about a month to recover and then a few weeks to get up to football speed, then Denver might bring him back.
  • Hamler has had awful injury luck since being drafted by the Broncos in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. Hamler has been unavailable for 27 of the team’s 50 games over the last three years.
  • Big-name WRs available include Julio Jones, Jarvis Landry, T.Y. Hilton and Kenny Golladay, but Denver seems more likely to stick with in-house options. Behind Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton, the top candidate to step up and help replace Patrick and Hamler is second-round pick Marvin Mims.
Sean Payton blasts Nathaniel Hackett 
  • Hackett, of course, is now OC for the Jets. New York head coach Robert Saleh stood up for Hackett and said “there’s a lot of crows pecking at our neck.”
  • Jets OL Billy Turner (who played under Hackett with the Packers and with the Broncos last season) called Payton an “[expletive] bum” and “childish” on his Instagram story.
  • Jets QB Aaron Rodgers said the comments were “way out of line” and Rodgers also called Payton “insecure.”
  • Hackett suggested that Payton broke a coaches code and he said “it’s unfortunate that that had to happen.”
  • The damage has clearly been done, though, and the Jets won’t forget those comments. Denver will host New York in Week 5 🍿🏈
Broncos have a new alternate helmet 
  • The Broncos have to wear the alternate helmet with their existing Color Rush uniform, which is all-orange. Some fans wanted the team to wear all-white or white pants with it.
3 former Broncos one step closer to Hall of Fame 
  • Broncos Super Bowl 50 champion DeMarcus Ware will sing the national anthem before the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday and he will then be enshrined in Canton as part of the 2023 class on Saturday.
  • Looking ahead to next year, ex-Broncos linebacker Randy Gradishar is among 12 senior semifinalists for the 2024 Hall of Fame class. Up to three senior candidates will be elected to the 2024 class.
  • Mike Shanahan, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Broncos, is among 12 semifinalists in the coach/contributor category for 2024. Only one coach/contributor will be enshrined with the 2024 class.
  • Late coach Dan Reeves is also a coach/contributor semifinalist for 2024. Reeves reached nine Super Bowls as a player and coach, representing the third-most in NFL history only behind Bill Belichick (12) and Tom Brady (10).
Two quick questions on special teams to wrap things up
  • 1. The NFL has a new rule this year — a fair catch on a kickoff will result in the ball being spotted at the 25-yard line (even if it’s fielded inside the 25). Many coaches don’t like the change, and Sean Payton thinks it will have unintended consequences. The idea is to make the game safer by creating even fewer kickoff returns, a play that is responsible for many injuries every season. Do we think it’s a good rule change?
  • 2. Pat Surtain got a few reps as a punt returner this spring. He’s very willing to contribute on special teams, but the Broncos are only having him practice for emergency-type situations, not as a primary returner. Being such a valuable player, should Surtain even be a fallback option as a returner?
We will return later in the offseason with new podcast episodes as news pops up. If you enjoy this podcast, you can check out previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on your podcast service of choice. Please consider giving the podcast a positive rating and review!

You can listen to every past episode below or at this link.

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Broncos will unveil their new alternate helmet tomorrow

The Broncos will unveil their new alternate helmet tomorrow.

Story update: The Denver Broncos unveiled their new alternate helmet on July 25. See our original post below. 

Tomorrow’s the big day.

More than four months after initially teasing their (white?) alternate helmet, the Denver Broncos will finally unveil the new look on Tuesday (July 25).

The Broncos are going to wear their new alternate helmet with their Color Rush uniform this season. If the team is not making changes to the existing Color Rush design, their new helmet might look like the graphic in the above tweet.

If Denver is changing its Color Rush uniform, some fans have speculated that the team could switch to an all-white design such as this:

If an all-white Color Rush design is in store, the Broncos have already been beaten to the punch by the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, who both have all-white alternate uniforms of their own.

We will presumably find out tomorrow when Denver unveils its alternate helmet which uniform design will be featured with the helmet this fall. While we wait, here’s a look back at the team’s helmet history.

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A look back at the Broncos’ uniforms through the years

Here’s a quick look back at the Broncos’ uniform designs since 1960.

The Denver Broncos have had the same primary uniform design since 1997 and the same primary jersey color since 2012. Changes could be on the way soon.

Last November, the Broncos sent a poll in an email to season ticket holders asking for their opinions on the team’s uniform future. That seemed like a clear sign that Denver was doing its homework before a potential new uniform design.

A few months after that poll went out, team president Damani Leech hinted on Twitter that the team is working on a new uniform design. Nothing is imminent for a new uniform, but it seems that the process has started.

The Broncos are set to release an alternate helmet ahead of the 2023 season, and an overhauled uniform might be in store down the road.

Here is a great GIF from Fantatics showing Denver’s uniforms over the years. Below are photos highlighting the key changes and new additions to the Broncos’ uniform design since the team started playing in 1960.