For years, the only way Denver Broncos fans could see current players in throwback uniforms is if someone put together a great photoshop edit or you play Madden video games.
In the 2022 season, we might finally get to see the Denver Broncos‘ most current roster of players wearing throwback uniforms for the first time since 2009.
The NFL has had a longstanding rule that players can only wear one helmet per season, insisting that breaking in new helmets is much safer than constantly changing helmets or even intermittently changing them.
Apparently, they have re-evaluated that and by 2022 will be allowing teams to have alternate helmets for throwback uniforms.
NFL approved alternate helmets today for teams wearing throwback uniforms starting in 2022, per league sources. This opens the door to the defending world-champion Bucs wearing the old white helmets with the orange swashbuckling Buccaneer as early as 2022.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 24, 2021
This is a massive development for the aesthetic of the entire league. As of right now, teams have to be creative with their equipment department to wear any sort of alternate uniforms, applying different stickers to the same helmets to really change anything at all.
The Denver Broncos have been doing this for a few years now with their color rush uniform combination, a “throwback” style of uniform with the logo the team had during the 80s and 90s before they got brand-new uniforms ahead of the 1997 season.
It was already implemented for the 2021 season that players could have significantly more freedom with the jersey numbers they selected. A number of Denver Broncos players have already taken advantage of that like KJ Hamler, who changed to his college number 1, and Michael Ojemudia who changed to his high school number 13.
The NFL’s helmet rule was a curious one from the beginning as college football programs have their players changing helmets almost on a weekly basis at some schools. The Oregon Ducks, for example, hardly ever wear the same uniform combination twice, and their helmets are constantly changing.
This means the Denver Broncos can not only bring back the uniforms they last wore in 1996 for the first time in nearly three decades, but they could also resurrect those brown and yellow uniforms they wore in 2009 for the team’s 50th anniversary.
Denver Broncos: 53-man roster prediction at 2021 OTAs
The Denver Broncos will have some difficult decisions to make regarding the roster leading up to the 2021 season. Who makes the final 53?
There are really countless possibilities with this depending on how many helmets the team is allowed to utilize throughout the season.