NFL to let teams have alternate helmets starting in 2022

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

NFL to allow teams to have alternate helmets beginning in 2022

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jun 24, 2021 6:01 PM ET

A uniform change desired by pockets of football fans for years is coming.

Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk reported Thursday that the NFL has approved teams to have alternate helmets beginning with the 2022 season. Franchises must inform the league of their intentions to wear different helmets by July 31, 2021, and it's hoped teams will announce which helmets they've chosen at some point this summer:

The original Giants 1979-1999 helmet please, not just the sticker on the new helmet. #TogetherBlue https://t.co/U2dCC2xxHs pic.twitter.com/QUVXSajcYk
— WBG84 (@WBG84) June 24, 2021

Per Kevin Patra of the NFL's website, the league previously allowed only one set of helmets per team because it was feared shifting between differing headgear could be unsafe. However, teams will be required to have alternate helmets for every player on the roster and also ensure all the helmets are the same make, model and size as the primary helmets. Players will be fitted for both primary and alternate helmets early into training-camp sessions.

It's not known if teams will start selling alternate helmets to fans.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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