The Draw Play

We’ve finally come full circle, my friends. Almost exactly 700 comics and close to 5 years later, we are back to where we started.

I can’t stop laughing at the Jags redesign. Not because it’s bad; it’s fine. I can’t stop laughing because it feels like a drastic panic response to how the first change was received. The Jags uniform broke all kinds of conventions back when it was introduced. The solid color shoulders. The gold collar. The angled numbers with two different colors of trim. The new shield logo. Plus, the worst thing that has ever happened: the gradient helmet. An interesting idea so poorly executed that immediately became a huge joke. After all this time they threw it all out and went arguably too far in the opposite direction.

Instead of one of the more varied and interesting uniforms, we now have a uniform that is practically minimalist. All the neat design elements are gone, replaced by basically solid nothing. They kept the collar thing, that’s about it. The numbers are back to STANDARD SPORTS BLOCK FONT #375 and don’t even have a color outline. There is a little bit of color on the armholes, but you have to really look to notice it. The socks have a weird upward flow that is so subtle I kept wondering if it was intentional. The pants are just solid a solid color. No stripes, no interesting elements anywhere. They took away the cool shield from the chest and replaced it with the regular head logo. On top of all that…they painted the helmet black. Not even matte black, just regular black.

It’s just so…bare. I do think this uniform works better as a complete uniform compared to the old one, as the other one was a bit too busy with design bits that didn’t quite flow together that well. But I really wish they’d kept some of it. I wish they’d kept the new font, it was more interesting. I wish the numbers had a colored outline on them (not two colors like before, but at least one). I would have preferred to keep the shield logo, and maybe even put that on the helmet. I would have enjoyed the entire helmet being matte black. I would have liked something on the sides of the pants. Now they have the distinct issue all stripe-less pants have: they look like yoga pants. The gold is completely gone, which is a shame.

It feels like an apology for the previous uniform, but one that they didn’t need to give. The helmet had to change but the rest of it didn’t need to be eliminated this much. It’s so plain now. I got excited when I saw the teal uniform, but then I found out they are using the black for a home jersey (total mistake, Florida gets hot why make BLACK your primary?). I hope they use the teal jerseys a lot.

The previous jerseys may not have been perfect. They were far from it. But we’ll remember them, because they really did catch your eye. These are just going to be a footnote till the next tweak.

If you want an example of a good return to tradition, the Miami Dolphins also released new uniforms to little fanfare, and they look spectacular. That’s what a retro classic return to form looks like. The Jags? Just kinda bland.