49ers' New Black Alternate Uniforms Look Like Their Old Black Alternates

It turns out the 49ers revamped their all-black uniforms from 2015. Those all blacks were extremely unpopular, and the 49ers stopped using them after 2017.

These all-black uniforms are slightly different. The helmet is black instead of gold. The numbers are in saloon font, which is a nice touch, and they have gold shadowing, which is necessary considering the old all-black uniforms had red block numbers and zero gold anywhere. They looked like Arizona Cardinals jerseys.

These jerseys look more like something the 49ers would wear, but they still have a distinct Arizona Cardinals or Tampa Bay Buccaneers feel, because black-on-black never has been and never will be a 49ers color scheme. It looks forced and goofy, the kind of jersey a lower-tier franchise would wear.

The 49ers made these jerseys because black-on-black jerseys sell well. Fans like them. And no team can pass up an opportunity to make an extra dollar. Still, imagine the Raiders coming out with a red-on-red jersey that has black and silver numbers. It would look ridiculous.

The 49ers' best alternate uniforms are their white-on-white 1994 jerseys. Those are historically relevant because the 49ers wore them in 1955 as well, so they're double throwbacks. As opposed to the new black-on-blacks, which the 49ers used sporadically from 2015 to 2017, three of the worst years in franchise history.

Fortunately, the 49ers will wear these uniforms just once this season -- call it a soft launch. If fans like the jerseys, the 49ers probably will wear them more frequently in the future. If fans don't like the jerseys, the 49ers will phase them out.

What an interesting season this will be for the 49ers. They're coming off a six-win year, they restocked their roster with lots of rookies and journeymen, they're sitting on more than $45 million in cap space, they haven't lowered ticket prices, and now they have a new uniform to sell. They're asking their fans to fork over more and more cash while adding players such as Marques Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore.

Maybe if the 49ers sell enough black-on-black uniforms, they'll be able to afford to keep Jauan Jennings.