We haven’t even made it to the NFL Draft and the Buccaneers are having themselves quite the offseason. First they sign all time great QB Tom Brady and now today they released three new uniforms. After going with a futuristic, bold look the past few seasons, they took a step back to the more traditional look that saw the Buccaneers win the 2003 Super Bowl.
The Old
The template of the old uniforms itself wasn’t that bad, I like the brown shoulders on the red jersey, but the numbers and cartoon font were not good. The weird cuts through the numbers felt unnecessary and the “Bucs” font on the sleeves is out of place.
Home Red
To begin, it should be clear that Tampa Bay’s colors are red, orange, and some shade of brown/black. I have never liked the red and orange combo, but it seems to be something the Bucs will never part on.
The helmet shell appears to be the same, with the facemask changing from silver to black. Love this move, especially when the number, collar, and sleeve outlines are also black. I’m also a fan of the “Buccaneers” script on the face of the jersey and wish more teams implemented the city and/or team name on their uniform. 7/10
Away White
Take out the red for white here and you have yourself an away jersey. The black really pops on this one and you can get a better look at the stripe that goes down the side of the jersey. Another improvement from the old set is replacing the “Bucs” script on the sleeve with the Tampa Bay ship logo.
Both are small additions but go far in making the overall uniform better. 8/10
Color Rush
This one doesn’t do it for me. I would have loved to see a black color rush, or the return of the creamsicle uniform from the 70s. We will hopefully get the latter in the near future as there have been rumors the NFL will start allowing teams to have multiple helmet shells.
The red trim is a nice switch up from the other two as well as the removal of the color orange. 4/10
Overall, the changes are overwhelmingly positive for the Bucs, especially when you have a Hall of Fame Quarterback to model them right away. It takes all of these small victories to change the outlook on a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2007 and hasn’t won a playoff game since their victory in the 2003 Super Bowl.
We have a few other NFL uniform tweaks coming this offseason, so make sure to check back for updates and give me a follow on twitter @matt_wulff if you like these review blogs and want to see more!
sources: twitter.com/buccaneers
The Expansion Team 