Did the Eagles almost change their uniforms back in 2012?

Midnight Green has been a staple for the Philadelphia Eagles over the last two decades. Since their introduction in the late 90s, the design has gone virtually untouched, excluding minor tweaks and changes in manufacturers. Despite that, it looks as though the Eagles could have undergone a drastic uniform change just a few years ago.

Before continuing, this scrapped rebrand is not fully confirmed. Talking with some uniform experts around the sports community, none could confirm that they were real or not but agreed they looked legitimate. I reached out to the creator of the uniforms, Scott Faries, who stated in his bio that he used to work for the NFL previously, but was unable to hear back. All of the images used are from Scott Faries, you can check out his other works here. Based on the uniform templates used, the designs were likely made when Nike took over in 2012, or before 2019 when the uniform template changed.

PROPOSED EAGLES LOGO:

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The logo modernizes the Eagles font and makes the logo more 3D-oriented while keeping the same look of the Eagle. The primary color, based on cross-references looks to be what is called “Sherpa Blue”. The design isn’t bad and looks pretty good, keeping some of the old winged letters.

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What we have next are the sleeve designs for the uniform. The photo features three different uniforms, green, white, and grey. Faries only had the green and grey designs on his site, but it looks as though the grey would’ve been an alternate, not the away uniform.

I like the idea of the lettering on the sleeves and the angled placement of it. The only gripes for me would be the color choices. Personally, the mixture of dark and light green doesn’t mix well, and it looks as though black and dark green would’ve matched better. But without further ado, here is a look at the proposed uniforms.

PROPOSED HOME UNIFORM:

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Thank god these uniforms did not see the field. There are a few things I like about them, but they would’ve been a significant downgrade from the current uniforms. Starting with the positives, the helmet is very cool but Oregonesque. The parallel makes sense with these uniforms likely being made when Chip Kelly was the Eagles’ head coach. Alongside that only other thing are the sleeves like I mentioned above.

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There is a lot to dissect from these uniforms. The numbers seem very bland and too big for the uniform, taking up almost the entire jersey. The overarching nameplate on the back doesn’t look right either, and the lettering would’ve been smaller than usual. The pants look good, but the green jersey and pants combination has never looked suitable for the Eagles, and the transition to the lighter green doesn’t look good either. 

PROPOSED AWAY UNIFORM:

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As stated above, it looks as though there were plans for a white away jersey, but all there are photos of are what would be the grey alternates. Grey does not look right as a primary color for any Eagles uniform. If these were black instead, it would’ve looked a lot better—Faries stated in the original design why they went with the Heather Grey over the black.

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“The uniform design was simplified while bringing in the toughness of the heather pattern, inspired by the team’s hardworking, blue-collar fans. Befitting the spirit of the City of Brother Love, it was an All Business and No BS approach.”

The double grey looks better than green on green, but these don’t look like a Philadelphia Eagles’ uniform. They look more like something the Jets or a college team would wear. Overall I would give the look a 3.5/10. If the grey was switched to black and only one green was used, they would be somewhat okay, but for the most part, they would’ve needed a lot of work.

While the Eagles have had their current trio of uniforms for several years, Kelly Green will likely return into the fold as soon as 2022. This discovery also comes on the heels of the Flyers’ own scrapped rebrand, which introduced teal and a new logo.

Mandatory Credit: Scott Faries