National Football League

Ranking the 2016 NFL Color Rush Jerseys from Worst to Best

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The NFL Color Rush jerseys for the 2016 season have finally arrived. Naturally, we’re ranking them from worst to the very best.

On Tuesday, the NFL unveiled their slate of Color Rush jerseys for the 2016 season. Rather than doing it as a week-by-week thing like they did last year, they instead opted to drop all 32 jerseys that were designed for this.

However, there are a few idiosyncrasies when it comes to the Color Rush release this year. Perhaps the most egregious of these is the fact that some teams won’t get to wear the colors that they picked and that the NFL released on Thursday. For reasons like playing on Thanksgiving or to help aid the colorblind community, the NFL switched it up on several teams. We’ll touch on those when we get there, though.

Related Story: NFL Power Rankings 2016: Week 1

As always wit this type of release, some of the jerseys are amazing and you’ll want to buy them immediately. Contrarily, there are certainly other jerseys that you’ll want to run away from and scrub your eyes after seeing.

We’ll take a look at all of them here, ranking them from worst-to-best.

32. Seattle Seahawks

Do you remember when you were in elementary school playing Madden and creating your team? And remember when 5-to-9-year-old you then made the jerseys for said team? Your players probably ended up looking very lime-like on the field, much like the Seattle Seahawks now will thanks to Color Rush.

31. Washington Redskins

For every lime, there’s a lemon. Shockingly, the Redskins are one of two teams to go “all-yellow” for their look. However, theirs are just a bit overbearing and don’t work at all for me when it comes down to it. Luckily, we won’t see these this year as Washington plays on Thanksgiving and won’t wear these.

30. Houston Texans

The Houston Texans are definitely getting a raw deal in this whole NFL Color Rush scenario. Their jerseys aren’t exactly spectacular to begin with, but that’s only the half of it. They don’t even get to wear the blues as they face the New England Patriots, who will also sport navy. Instead, they’ll be wearing white. Not great, Bob.

29. Green Bay Packers

I’m super glad that the Packers were thinking outside of the box here. If there was one team in the NFL that should have gone for the yellow jerseys, it’s the Packers. Instead, they put on their regular whites and are going to try and trick you into thinking they’re any different. Spoiler: any differences between their normal whites and these are negligible.

28. Atlanta Falcons

I’ve gone back-and-forth with the Falcons uniforms a couple of times now. While I’ve always dug the contrast of the red jerseys with the black helmet, this ultimately doesn’t work for me. They look like a high school football team in these, which I can only surmise wasn’t the goal. These won’t be worn, though, due to a color conflict. They play the next team on our rankings, who will also have red for the Color Rush.

27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers may not look like a high school squad in their all-reds, but they certainly don’t look good. I understand the whole concept of the Color Rush jerseys, but there’s an art to toning it down to where you aren’t blinding everyone watching. The Bucs have clearly not mastered said art after looking at these.

26. Dallas Cowboys

Wait. These jerseys are new? Are we sure about that? Even if they sport all-white pants with this, no one should enjoy these exercises in the mundane from the Cowboys.

25. Philadelphia Eagles

Seeing the Philadelphia Eagles rocking the black uniforms is always something I’ve enjoyed. It’s a good look for the team. However, it didn’t exactly take a whole lot of imagination to dream up these bad boys for Color Rush.

24. Indianapolis Colts

Seriously, though; did half of these teams or the league even try when they started designing these? Props to going colorful with the all-blue for the Colts, but that’s the only credit they’re going to be getting from me. Not that it matters, though, as Indy is another team playing on Thanksgiving that won’t be wearing the Color Rush unis.

23. Kansas City Chiefs

“Tried and true” to “tradition” must be the code for how the Chiefs say, “we’re tricking you into buying these Color Rush jerseys that are not any different from the other red uniform we wear.” Because that’s ostensibly what’s going on with these little numbers.

22. Chicago Bears

If anyone is super into the Color Rush games, they need to just go ahead and not tune into the Oct. 20 edition of Thursday Night Football. The Bears taking on the Packers is going to look just like every other matchup between these two teams. Needless to say, these two NFC North teams were not on the mark in 2016 when it comes to the Color Rush.

21. Los Angeles Rams

As far as exceedingly mustard yellow jerseys go, these Rams efforts aren’t terrible. That is to say, they are substantially better than their Week 1 performance on the field. The accents on the pants vault them well ahead of Washington. Like the Redskins, though, Los Angeles won’t wear these as they’ll take on the Seahawks wearing whites.

20. Baltimore Ravens

You might be thinking that it’s the all-purple uniform that is knocking the Ravens here. That’s far from the case, though. Instead, it’s the lettering. It makes no sense to switch to this colorful look and keep the lettering to where it’s supposed to pop. It makes it look completely silly and ultimately ruins the jerseys to a degree.

19. Tennessee Titans

Once you see Marcus Mariota and the Titans looking like Smurfs in this game, you’re not going to be able to un-see it.

18. Cincinnati Bengals

If the Cincinnati Bengals were a college football team, these alternate jerseys would be absolute fire emojis across the board. However, they’re just missing something in their current state. Maybe it’s that it needs more orange—but it’s mostly just the fact that they look undeniably like a college squad.

17. San Francisco 49ers

There were plenty of rumors leading up to Tuesday’s release that the Niners would be wearing all-gold for the Color Rush jerseys. However, they’re instead going with all-black. If they had like one gold accent on these jerseys, I’d be a little happier with them. Still, they aren’t horrible by any stretch.

16. Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville, however, will indeed be wearing the all-gold jerseys. A lot of people around the Internet are not fond of these bad boys. That club does not include me. I absolutely love these and think they should be a part of the Jags’ regular rotation. Hell, give them an all-teal too. They have a unique color scheme and these jerseys stand out like they should.

15. Buffalo Bills

Why yes, you have seen these before. These would be the wonderful red numbers that the Bills wore last year in the unofficial Christmas Bowl that was not, in fact, played on Christmas. While they may not be the worst jerseys of all-time, they’re far from being the best by my estimation.

14. Miami Dolphins

Hats off to the Dolphins for not taking the easy way out and going with the teal jerseys here. That being said, that orange is abrasive on the eyes. Plus, would it kill these teams or the NFL to learn that a nice accent stripe or two on the pants really makes these things work? A teal stripe would put these legitimately in a top-five conversation.

13. Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns went wild with their Color Rush jerseys, making them…uh…brown. I actually don’t mind the choice in the slightest. I think the orange flat lettering and numbers looks great. And the brown isn’t hideous, either. However, we might be getting some tasty orange joints from Cleveland as well. They’re yet another team with a conflict in their uniform colors.

12. Arizona Cardinals

Once again, I’m one of the people who thinks the black look for Color Rush is totally acceptable if done right. Not only are these done right, but they’re a noticeable remix of a look that the Cardinals have sported before. I know I’ve smacked down several uniforms for being too similar to their regular ones, but these are just different enough to work for me.

11. New York Jets

The other participant in 2015’s Christmas Bowl, the Jets technically are going with the bright green jerseys. Considering the change in the green and the different look, I was actually all in favor of this look for them. However, they’ll be wearing all white in Week 2 when they would’ve been wearing the greens in the Christmas Bowl Part 2 (Electric Boogaloo). To help colorblind fans that struggled last season, New York will wear white against the Bills.

10. Carolina Panthers

Yes, the Panthers join the Titans in their efforts to look like Smurfs. However, Carolina’s versions of Smurf looks a little bit better. The silver and black stripes on the shoulder pads look amazing on this all-blue look. Moreover, the silver helmets also look better than Tennessee’s do with this similar color. Thus, the Panthers kick off the top-10.

9. New York Giants

Much like when it comes to my opinions on the all-black jerseys, I’m also in favor of the all-white look if it’s done correctly. The Giants absolutely nailed it with these jerseys. That numbering and striping on the jersey and pants, respectively is the perfect accent to really make these pop. Well done out of the NFC East on these.

8. Denver Broncos

There have been plenty of people loosing their minds over these orange crush Broncos Color Rush jerseys from last year and then again on Tuesday. And make no mistake, they’re very cool, very clean uniforms. However, I’m not ready to say that they’re that great. To me, they’re a top-10 look among the rest of the league, but nothing more. I will admit, though, the throwback helmets are a nice touch.

7. Minnesota Vikings

This is what it looks like when you get the purple jerseys right. Minnesota has just the right amount of gold to accent the purple and not make it over-doing it. Moreover, the flat lettering with these royal, contrasting colors is absolutely fantastic. The fact that six jerseys rank above these speaks quite highly of what’s to come to finish these rankings.

6. San Diego Chargers

Several people have lamented that the Chargers didn’t go powder-blue for their Color Rush jerseys. I, for one, enjoy the fact that they kept a traditional look and made it different and bolder. These have the look of everything you’d imagine with jerseys that will 100 percent look even better when they’re on the field than they do in the picture, also. Oh yeah; how can you not love the bolt down the leg on these?

5. New England Patriots

No matter what you’re thoughts on the New England Patriots are, these jerseys are absolutely fantastic. If you had told me that the Pats were going with navy blue, I would have expected something far more boring. This final product, though, is anything but that. From the stripes on the shoulder pads to the numbering to the way it looks with the silver helmet/red facemask combo is just incredible.

4. New Orleans Saints

Speaking of incredible, look at what the Saints did. This is unlike anything we’re accustomed to seeing out of New Orleans and it works so well. Whoever designed these deserves a massive raise. White can be a tricky look, but when you accent it with gold and then make it pop with the traditional black, it works to perfection.

3. Detroit Lions

Going from all-white jerseys, we get the Lions all-black Color Rush uniforms at No. 3 in these rankings. Man, these things are absolutely gorgeous. That blue pops so delightfully with the black jersey behind it. Though I’d guess they’ll be wearing the silver helmets still, these might be No. 1 if they rocked a black alternate helmet as well. It’s a great look that Detroit should honestly add to their regular arsenal of jerseys.

2. Oakland Raiders

Raiders fans have been a bit divided regarding their thoughts on these Color Rush jerseys. However, I think the throwback all-white look simply works. Not only is it a nice nod to their AFL jerseys, but it really sets them apart with the silver on top of the white. It’s something that’s subtle, but sleek and really should look great when out on the field.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

You might as well put the Steelers down as 2-0 for the 2016 season because this is an absolute win from Pittsburgh. There’s so much to love about these jerseys that I don’t know where to start. Sure, you may have surmised that I’m partial to the all-black look. However, it’s more than that which makes these jerseys come in at No. 1 among the rest of the Color Rush uniforms.

Perhaps the most pivotal part of these jerseys looking as good as they do is the sleeves. Having the multi-sized stripes at the bottom of the sleeves is a fantastic touch. Had Pittsburgh just gone with all black sans these stripes, they wouldn’t pop nearly as much as they do in their current form. Moreover, the gold of the numbers and the stripes just looks right with the black backdrop for them to sit on.

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For the most part, the NFL did a great job with this group of the Color Rush jerseys. There are of course a few duds, which is to be expected. However, most efforts are at least solid and then there are a handful that are absolutely fantastic.

Which Color Rush jerseys are your favorites of the lot? Where do you disagree with these rankings? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.

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