CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns owner Dee Haslam confirmed at the NFL’s Annual Meeting in Phoenix Tuesday that the team has heard the fans’ issues with the current jerseys and will debut newly designed uniforms starting in the 2020 season.
Haslam told reporters, “I think we got it right” and that fans should expect “nothing fancy.”
While details of the uniforms will not be known until spring of 2020 because of the Browns’ agreement with Nike and the NFL to play in new jerseys for five seasons before going with another change, the Haslams confirmed that the colors will remain the same.
So, what might these uniforms look like?
Here are three potential options:
Similar to “Color Rush”
The Browns had plenty of success when wearing the simplified “Color Rush” uniforms during the 2018 regular season, and the brown base jersey with three small orange stripes on the sleeves with orange numbers and lettering resonated well with the fans.
An orange jersey with white or brown lettering and numbers and white uniform with brown accents with simple stripes on the sleeves would be a nice take on the “Color Rush” look.
The simple look of the “Color Rush” uniform is in stark contrast to the main scheme, as currently, there are nine different color combinations among the regular orange, white and brown jerseys.
With the fans embracing the look, especially after quarterback Baker Mayfield wore it when he debuted and led the Browns to their first regular-season win in more than a year, a simplified look in line with the “Color Rush” would be a hot seller at the team shop.
Return to simpler design
Before the Browns made an admitted “radical change” to the uniforms in the spring of 2015, they had much simpler decisions to make on game days when they had the base brown uniforms with stripes on the sleeves and white lettering and numbers or the white jerseys/pants with brown lettering and numbers.
While they weren’t fancy, a more modern look to the classic jerseys worn by the team between 1999 and 2014 could be well received by fans.
Modifications to current uniforms
Currently, the primary home jersey is brown and features “CLEVELAND” printed in orange on the collar below the NFL logo and above the numbers. The orange numerals have a white shadow effect with two orange stripes and a middle white stripe covering each of the shoulder sleeves and extending around to the front and back of the jersey. The players’ names are written in orange letters.
The Browns have similar designs for white and orange jerseys.
The Browns could go with a combination of the modern and classic looks, with “CLEVELAND” remaining prominent on the jerseys, but returning to the white numerals and lettering on the brown uniforms and brown accents on the base white tops.
An orange jersey would have a place as an alternate, but if the Browns use the “Color Rush” as their third option, there might not be a need for a fourth possibility.
If the Browns were to go with an orange look for the alternate, expect them to keep the white lettering and numerals with different shoulder stripes and a more subtle “CLEVELAND” or “BROWNS” printed across the chest right underneath the NFL shield.
