The Houston Texans have been promising fans new jerseys starting in 2024 and for the last few months, we've eagerly looked forward to the arrival of these new uniforms. We're now wishing we weren't so eager. A supposed leak on Reddit, brought to our attention thanks to the NFL Fashion Advice account on Twitter/X, has given us a look at the supposed new jerseys.
The jersey is that of the team's away variety, primarily white with dark blue numbers and stripes, and matching dark blue pants. They aren't hideous by any means but these look outdated. We're not talking throw-backs, we're talking about a style that barely worked in the time and space where it was common.
These look straight out of the 2004 edition of Madden, where you would go in and create your own team with the templates offered. Nothing offensive can be seen about this jersey design but with how much hype there has been around a color change, back to a lighter blue, these are far from ideal.
This Texans "leak" is making the rounds on Reddit. You never know, but consider me in the "not buying it" camp. Stingley's number but not Stingley. And I'm expecting all of the redesigns this year to be in the standard Vapor FUSE template. pic.twitter.com/24iMtgMYHv
— NFL Fashion Advice (@fashion_nfl) March 18, 2024
Luckily, there is a chance these are fakes. As the the account author points out the jerseys don't seem to match the new NIKE Vapor F.US.E. template that all the NFL teams are being given. That's hopeful, as those jerseys and pants would be some of the worst re-designs that the team could've done. There's nothing special about them.
Nike Vapor F.U.S.E. jersey template fact sheet. pic.twitter.com/BAWMzbmVuU
— NFL Fashion Advice (@fashion_nfl) May 4, 2023
And the Texans faithful deserve a redesign that isn't only eye-catching and cool but is iconic to define a generation. Too often franchises fall into trappings' and the current one is the idea of minimalism in uniform designs (see the Utah Jazz). Teams think this is sleek and more "modern" but in reality, they're just not that fun.
Uniforms should be fun not only to wear but see in action and the idea of taking the design and look of the old Houston Oilers colors and mixing them to fit a Texans theme is something fans have been hoping for over the last few years. If not longer.
Failing to give fans that, and instead giving them this minimalistic bore of a design would be the worst possible outcome of a redesign.