TheNFL Color Rush was a promotion done in conjunction with theNational Football League (NFL) andNike that promotes so-called "color vs. color" matchups with teams in matchup-specific uniforms that are primarily one solid color with alternating colored accents, primarily airing onThursday Night Football. Despite being promoted as color vs. color, some games had one team wearing traditional white uniforms, either by choice or out of necessity. The uniforms did not count against each team with regards to their allowedalternate uniform allotment. The games received mixed responses from fans, with some praising the NFL for changing up their games in terms of uniforms, while others criticized the promotion for some of its garish uniforms. The promotion was officially discontinued for the2018 season, but many teams continue to wear the Color Rush uniforms and promote them heavily, notably theCleveland Browns,Seattle Seahawks,Dallas Cowboys,Pittsburgh Steelers,Buffalo Bills andLos Angeles Chargers.

In the early days of the NFL throughWorld War II, it was common to see teams wearing their team colored uniforms against each other. Many teams would almost always wear a primary colored jersey, only switching to a second jersey as a visitor when the home team's uniform color is similar. Following the arrival of the rivalAll-America Football Conference where each team had both a team colored jersey and a white jersey, NFL teams began adding a white jersey as a neutral color to avoid color clashes. Again, this was only used if teams such as theChicago Bears and theGreen Bay Packers (the latter before the arrival ofVince Lombardi) played each other and had similar jersey colors. NFL teams were not required to add a white jersey.^{[citation needed]}

It would not be the AAFC (which partially merged into the NFL in 1950) that would change the status quo, but the mainstream adoption of television. Due to the technical limitations of TV, programming could only be broadcast in black and white, making it hard for fans to tell their teams apart. Out of necessity, starting with the1957 NFL season, all teams were required to have both a team colored jersey and a white jersey, with the team colored jerseys being worn at home and white jerseys being worn at away games. This caused teams such as the Chicago Bears,Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, andLos Angeles Rams (none of which had a white jersey in1956^[1]) to add a contrasting white jersey. In the Rams' case, it also forced the team to drop their gold jersey, as it was considered "too light" to wear against teams wearing white jerseys, replaced by blue jerseys. Other teams, such as theCleveland Browns, that had worn white as their primary home uniform were also no longer allowed to wear those jerseys at home.^{[citation needed]}

In1964, the league allowed the home team to decide which jersey could be worn at home, which prompted many teams to wear their white jerseys at home so that fans could see the colors of the visiting team. Withblackout policies not allowing the home games to be aired in home markets until1973, this also meant that fans not attending games in person at times only saw the team's darker colored uniform on TV, which depending on the television they were watching may still be in black and white. Despite this rule change and the widespread adoption ofcolor television by the end of the 1960s, the color/white rule generally remains in effect for the NFL even ascollege football relaxed its jersey rules in 2009.^[2]

The NFL began to allow exceptions as part of leaguewide promotions, beginning with the league's 75th Anniversary season in1994. For the first time, the NFL allowed teams to wearthrowback uniforms and in some cases allowed color vs. color as long as the colors did not clash with each other.

Color vs. color matchups would continue for a time in the early 2000s, mostly onThanksgiving games. In2002, the league allowed alternate uniforms with some jerseys being allowed to be worn against a colored jersey if it was light enough. Examples included gray jerseys worn by theNew England Patriots in the 2000s and theSeattle Seahawks of the present day, as well as a one-off gold alternate by theNew Orleans Saints that was worn against theMinnesota Vikings in 2002.

In2009, the NFL celebrated what would have been the 50th season of theAmerican Football League by allowing each of the original eight AFL teams to wear AFL-era throwback uniforms. One of those teams, theKansas City Chiefs, was granted special permission by the NFL to allow the visitingDallas Cowboys to wear their early 1960s throwbacks against the Chiefs (wearing throwbacks of their predecessors, the Dallas Texans) in "The Game that Never Was".^{[citation needed]}

For2012,Nike replacedReebok as the league's uniform supplier. As Nike had been the longtime supplier of theOregon Ducks football team and used the Ducks as the team to start the trend of college football teams radically changing their uniforms on a regular basis, some had speculated that the NFL was about to follow college football's path, or at the very least one team becoming the "Oregon of the NFL". TheSeattle Seahawks,Minnesota Vikings,Cleveland Browns,Jacksonville Jaguars,Miami Dolphins,Tampa Bay Buccaneers,Detroit Lions,Tennessee Titans,New York Jets,Atlanta Falcons,Los Angeles Chargers,Los Angeles Rams,New England Patriots,Cincinnati Bengals,Washington Commanders,Arizona Cardinals,Denver Broncos, andHouston Texans are the teams that have completely redesigned their uniform since Nike took over. The Browns, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Lions, Jets, and Commanders have gone through multiple iterations of redesigned uniforms during this period, but none of them became the "Oregon of the NFL", with the Browns, Dolphins, Vikings, and Patriots opting for more traditional styles. This was further subdued in2013 when the NFL banned alternate helmets out of fears ofconcussions. In June 2021, the NFL repealed that ruling, allowing teams to wear alternate helmets starting in2022.

During the Packers'annualshareholder meeting in 2015, the team nonchalantly mentioned that color vs. color matchups would be allowed as an option duringThursday Night Football contests in2015, while becoming mandatory in 2016.^[3] Initially, this belief thought teams would be allowed to wear their normal uniforms against each other or even their alternates. However, on October 30, 2015, the NFL announced the initial "Color Rush," a series of four Thursday contests in which all eight teams will wear specially designed alternate uniforms.^[4][5]

The initial rollout featured theCarolina Panthers andTennessee Titans wearing their regular alternate uniforms (with the Panthers debuting "Carolina blue" pants), while the Dallas Cowboys revived their white "Double Star" uniforms from the mid-1990s (while debuting white pants) and the then-St. Louis Rams wore a yellow version of their 1973–99 throwbacks for the games. The other four teams involved wore all-new uniforms for the games:

• TheBuffalo Bills debuted all-red uniforms for the first time in team history, with red, white and blue shoulder stripes and blue-white-blue pants stripes. (In a minor inconsistency, the team's blue "charging buffalo" helmet logo was used, instead of the all-red "standing buffalo" the team uses on its throwback uniforms.)
• The Jacksonville Jaguars wore all-gold uniforms, after an accent color on their uniforms.
• TheNew York Jets, who wore Kelly green from 1963 to 1997, wore their current uniforms in the Kelly green color scheme, with their normally white sleeves also green and the middle shoulder stripe being the team's current shade of hunter green.
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wore an all-red ensemble.

In2016, it was expected that all 32 teams would participate, with some teams eager to unveil their Color Rush uniforms. ThePittsburgh Steelers—one of the league's more conservative and tradition-bound teams with regards to uniforms—were the only team that did not participate in the 2015 Color Rush that revealed their Color Rush uniform style (but not revealing their uniform itself) before the leaguewide unveil, confirming that they would be wearing all-black uniforms with gold numbers on Christmas Day against theBaltimore Ravens.^[6] The team had planned on wearing a Color Rush uniform for its onlyThursday Night match up against theIndianapolis Colts atLucas Oil Stadium, but opted for the home game on Christmas against its hated rival and wore their standard road uniforms against the Colts. It was later announced that Thanksgiving games were exempt from the Color Rush promotion.

On September 13, 2016, the NFL and Nike unveiled the Color Rush uniforms for all 32 teams. The eight teams that participated in the Color Rush the year before continued their uniforms while the Steelers had already announced theirs.^[7][8] For 2016, the Jets, Browns, and Rams donned their regular white uniforms (see below), while the Cardinals, Falcons, and Texans will also wore their regular white uniforms as they were the away team and their opponents wore similar colored uniforms. The Lions, Colts, and Redskins did not wear their Color Rush uniforms for 2016 due to Thanksgiving games being exempt and none of the three teams having other Thursday night games.^[9] The 2017 season also featured at least one team, the Buffalo Bills, wearing their Color Rush uniform on a Sunday afternoon game (coincidentally this game, dubbed theSnow Bowl, occurred during alake-effect snowstorm which made the Bills players more visible than their opponents, the all-white wearing Indianapolis Colts).^[10] The2017 Pro Bowl also features the two conference all-star teams in solid red and blue colors respectively.

On April 10, 2018, the league announced that Color Rush promotion would be discontinued under the terms of the newThursday Night Football broadcast contract. Teams were allowed to continue to use their existing Color Rush uniforms as alternate jerseys. Some teams continued to wear their Color Rush uniforms during Thursday nights, and the Browns, who were the last team to have worn their Color Rush uniform debuted theirs on September 20, 2018. The Browns also debuted end zones painted with the stripe pattern found on their Color Rush jersey.^[11] Positive fan reception for the new uniforms was so strong that the Browns later switched the Color Rush design to be their primary home jersey, which it remained through 2019.

Although the program has discontinued, the Color Rush term is still used by some teams as a name for alternate uniform designs.^[12][13]

If Color Rush uniform is identical to an existing uniform, "First Use" in a Color Rush game is shown initalics.

Uniforms are primarily one color, although the uniforms include different color accents for the jersey numbers and uniform details. Many uniforms duplicate the stripes and shoulder details of the team's current uniforms, but many do not. The Green Bay Packers' Color Rush Uniforms have the same stripe patterns on the sleeves as their regular uniforms, for instance. Conversely, the New England Patriots Color Rush uniforms mimic the stripes of their uniforms of a previous era. Whereas NFL teams most commonly wear pants in a contrasting color, all the Color Rush uniforms have pants and jerseys of the same color.

Color Rush uniforms also have matching colored shoes (instead of black or white) and matching socks. Some teams have continued to use their jersey and pants combination post-Color Rush without the matching shoes or socks.

Most teams helmets do not change for the Color Rush games. The Denver Broncos, the New York Giants, and the Los Angeles Rams wore helmets with versions of older logos affixed in 2016, while the New York Jets wore helmets with the same logo, but in a green chrome finish, in 2015, with the Cardinals doing the same to their helmets in 2016. Since NFL rules dictate that players wear the same helmet throughout the season, only the decals can change, and the shells remain the same color. As a result, although the Broncos Color Rush helmets resemble the ones used through 1996, it is the same shade of blue as currently used.

In 2022, the NFL reinstated the use of alternate helmets, and some existing Color Rush designs received same-colored helmets.

If the Color Rush color is too similar to the home team, or if there are issues with visibility for color-blind viewers, the visiting team will wear their whites. It is unclear how each of these teams will modify elements of their uniform for the Color Rush games, if at all. At least one team, the Arizona Cardinals, was given a choice between wearing their traditional white-on-white uniforms or a specially designed all-white uniform from Nike.^[17] The Cardinals opted for their traditional whites, with white socks. In week two of 2016, the New York Jets wore white facemasks instead of green, white gloves, solid white socks instead of white with green stripes, and white shoes instead of their usual black in the spirit of the Color Rush program.^[18] In week three, the Houston Texans modified their uniforms by wearing solid white socks instead of their blue and white socks. In Week 15, the Rams wore their regular white uniform but switched the horns on the helmet from gold to white, marking the first time the team wore white horns on the helmet since the1972 season; this was also done as a nod to theFearsome Foursome. The following year in 2017, the Rams decided to make the white horns a part of their regular uniforms, leaving most of their uniform intact save for the pants with the hope to rebrand completely in the near future.^[19] In week 5 of 2017, the Patriots wore their regular away jerseys with white pants and socks on the road in Tampa Bay. This was the only time that combination was used, as they adopted a modified color rush uniform as their home set in 2020, with a white version of that jersey created for away games. Coincidentally,Tom Brady only played inRaymond James Stadium for that one game during his time with New England, before becoming a Buccaneer.

Issues ofcolorblindness was first raised in November 2015. The first gamebetween the Bills and Jets attracted most criticism, with the Bills' all-red uniforms and the Jets' Kelly green outfits being indistinguishable.^[20] The NFL issued a statement admitting their "standard television test did not account for color blindness for fans at home that became apparent last night".^[21]

In 2016,Nike brought in doctors fromMount Sinai Hospital to point out potential colorblindness issues. Aside from red-green, the NFL also avoided brown-purple (Browns/Ravens) and yellow-bright green (Rams/Seahawks) matchups, requiring one of those teams to wear white uniforms in those games.^[9] Many teams adjusted their colors.^[22][23]

Some tradition-rich teams such as theGreen Bay Packers andNew York Giants chose to wear an all-white ensemble instead of wearing an all-team color ensemble, despite the Packers playing at home in their first Color Rush game and the team having a historical precedence with an all-green uniform in the early 1950s, which the team would ironically bring back as athrowback uniform in 2021.^[24] (The Packers wearing white in the Color Rush game also marked the first time the team wore white in a home game since a two-game experiment atLambeau Field in 1989, and only the second time in the team's 97-year history.) Giants co-ownerJohn Mara said that Nike initially approached the team about doing an all-red ensemble (which Mara rejected out of hand) and later an all-blue ensemble (which Mara initially approved, but got cold feet at the last minute) before going with the all-white look as a nod to theBill Parcells era of the 1980s.^[25] Other teams that chose white as their Color Rush uniforms have either traditionally worn white (such as theDallas Cowboys) or have already worn one-color ensembles as part of their regular uniforms on a regular basis, such as theNew Orleans Saints andCincinnati Bengals; in the latter's case, the team wore white uniforms as a nod to thewhite tiger.^[15]

The Packers and Giants non-participation contrasted with another tradition-rich team, thePittsburgh Steelers, who fully embraced the Color Rush program and received a positive response fromtheir fans over the all-black look.^[26] The Steelers made their Color Rush uniform their officialalternate uniform for 2017 and continue to do so today.^[27] Other teams such as thePhiladelphia Eagles,San Francisco 49ers, andTennessee Titans went with their existing alternate uniforms for the Color Rush program, as opposed to creating a unique uniform for the games, while theKansas City Chiefs simply matched their red jerseys up with their red pants—a look that the team had been sporting at times in recent seasons. TheChicago Bears simply wore their blue pants normally worn with their white jerseys with their blue jerseys, a look the team experimented with in the early 2000s.

In 2017, theWashington Redskins proposed a bylaw which would permit teams to opt out of Color Rush program participation.^[28] The Redskins later pulled the proposal before it went into a vote.^[29] However on the week of their Color Rush game, the Redskins announced they would not be wearing the gold color rush uniforms, which the team referred to as "garish" and instead wore all-burgundy jersey and pants.

Following the official discontinuation of the Color Rush program in 2018, some teams continued to wear their Color Rush uniforms and even branded them as such, following a rule change that allows teams to wear alternate uniforms up to three times per season and allowed two alternate uniforms. TheCleveland Browns, despite unveiling their Color Rush uniform in 2016, did not get the opportunity to wear theirs until the 2018 season, when it was met with great fanfare and subsequently worn two more times by the team that season. TheJacksonville Jaguars,Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 49ers dropped their Color Rush uniforms altogether by 2018 (the Jaguars due to an unrelated uniform redesign, while the latter two replaced their Color Rush designs with standardthrowback uniforms), while the Tennessee Titans (who like the Jaguars also redesigned their uniforms for 2018) actually branding their official third uniform as their Color Rush uniform despite being introduced after the discontinuation of the program. Some teams like the Dallas Cowboys andBaltimore Ravens also began to incorporate their Color Rush pants into their regular uniform attire while keeping their Color Rush sets.

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