Nike NFL Jerseys: Expectations for New Threads Should Be Tempered

On April 3rd, 2012, Nike will officially unveil its brand new NFL jerseys.

Are you holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat yet?

If yes, then good. You should be. This is kind of a big deal. As many have already bothered to point out, the NFL's transition from Reebok to Nike could lead to plenty of exhilarating changes. 

We know this in part because Nike brand president hinted to CNBC's Darren Rovell back in 2010 that Nike was intent on "changing the NFL jersey dramatically," just like it had done in college football. The stuff that has been coming out recently (B/R's Michael Dixon put together a helpful rundown of the various leaks) indicates that the NFL is indeed about to look different.

But not a whole lot different. If you're expecting Nike to run the same kind of experiments on NFL teams that it ran on the Oregon Ducks, you'd be wise to tone down your expectations while there's still time.

Odds are there won't be that many bright colors or outrageous uniform arrangements of any sort. After all, the NFL reserves the right to approve the threads that go on its players, and the league has something of a soft spot for tradition.

Back in January, league spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the league was looking forward to seeing "new uniform technology." That's the kind of thing that does not come across in bright colors and shiny helmets.

According to McCarthy, logos and team colors are controlled by the teams and the league itself, not by the league's official outfitter.

So don't worry. The Raiders are still going to wear silver and black, the Steelers are still going to wear black and gold, the Giants are still going to wear blue, the Jets are still going to wear green and so on and so on and so on.

This is not to say that Nike's renditions of all the old jersey arrangements won't look any different than Reebok's renditions. You're going to be able to tell a new Nike jersey apart from an old Reebok jersey pretty easily, and it will also be easy to tell what kind of functional upgrades Nike came up with.

Even if the Nike jerseys end up looking exactly like the Reebok jerseys (not likely), they're still going to sell like hotcakes. This is going to be one of those moments where people just feel the need to buy paraphernalia, which is an urge that every sports fan should be plenty familiar with by now.

The people who will be disappointed are those who are anticipating lavish uniforms with bright colors and completely reworked logos. Given the resources Nike has at its disposal, there's probably even a few people out there who are even expecting the new uniforms to come complete with a built-in jetpack (which, admittedly, would be awesome).

That's not what any of us are going to get. What we're going to get are jerseys that strike a perfect balance between the old and the new. That's not dramatic, but it's how things should be in this situation.