The Atlanta Falcons will not wear a controversial jersey for the 2023 season. While appearing on The Green Light podcast with Chris Long, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith announced that his team won’t be wearing the gradient jersey this year. The jersey is an alternate look for the Falcons that features red and black colors, and Smith said instead of wearing the jersey, the Falcons will be wearing its black throwback jersey with a red helmet as their alternate uniform combination this season.ย
“We got to turn those in about this time of the year, about what jersey to wear,” Smith said, per CBS Sports. “Now, they’ll let you wear the throwbacks three times with the red helmets, so we’ll do that. Obviously, you can control the home jersey, but you can’t control the away one. I know this will be unfortunate, and people will be upset about this, but we won’t wear those red gradient jerseys this year.” ย
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There are some fans who are not happy with the move, but the majority of fans seem to not care for the gradient jersey. The look was introduced in 2020 and one fan wrote at the time, “The Falcons gradient uniforms are actual garbage.” When Smith shared the news of the podcast, the Twitter account NFL Fashion Advice said, “Our long national nightmare is over.”
Wes Blakenship of On3Sports took a jab at the Falcons in his reaction to the gradient uniform. “Many have hated on the Falcons’ gradient uniforms, but they incorporate the franchise’s history into the design,” he tweeted. “Pretty coolThe red up top represents a 4th-quarter lead over other teamsAs you’ll notice, it fades away and dissolves into the black, bottomless pit of defeat.”
Last season, the Falcons only wore the gradient jersey once, which was in Week 11 against the Chicago Bears. The team wore their throwback uniforms for two of their home games which included the red helmets, the first time they wore the helmets since 2012.ย
The Falcons introduced the gradient jersey one year before Smith was hired as the head coach. In his first two seasons, the Falcons finished the regular season 7-10 but were one game away from winning the NFC South in 2022. This year, the Falcons made big additions to both sides of the footballย and look to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2017.ย
