Ladies and Gentlemen, Nike Has Left the Building...

I knew the Buccaneers had new uniforms in the works, but I wasn't planning on saying anything about them until I saw the full set.

This changes that.

When the NFL decided to award its uniform contract, a sizable slice of sports fans said Nike would quickly work to reshape the league's visual identity in a way that was a marked shift from the buttoned down, stoic image of the past. Some people, including me, pooh-poohed that idea...but here we are.

Nike has now redesigned Seattle, Minnesota, Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa Bay, and at least two of those outfits are complete and total disasters. Seattle has grown more tolerable over time, but it's not great. Minnesota has annoying idiosyncrasies but is tolerable overall. Miami is pretty good. Jacksonville and Tampa Bay? Wow.

It's hard to come down too hard on the Buccaneers without seeing the home uniforms, but based solely on the white jersey, this will challenge Jacksonville for the worst in the league. The pants feature a side stripe and a logo, which is too much. The giant helmet logo complicates things in the shoulder area. The digital typeface is going to be nearly illegible on the field.

And yet...this is such a generic uniform that there's almost nothing interesting about it. It reminds me of something you'd see in a football movie. It's gaudy and garish...but instantly forgettable.

We'll have much more time to react to the rest of the uniform soon enough, but for now I'll say this: I'm frightened for the future of NFL uniforms.