Nike NFL Uniforms: Invisible Changes Will Be Felt on the Gridiron

On Tuesday, the general public finally got a glimpse at the new uniforms designed by Nike in the first year of its partnership with the NFL.

As many people have already pointed out, the new uniforms (see Nike's Twitter feed) look a lot like the old uniforms, which were supplied by Reebok. In fact, the only team that looks any different is the Seattle Seahawks, who got a complete overhaul.

Everyone else? Same old, same old.

That has some fans feeling disappointed. Quite a few others have been content to simply mock the whole occasion as a bunch of overblown nonsense.

These people are not wrong. And I'll admit I cracked a few jokes of my own.

But we're missing the point. Nike's new uniforms aren't meant to look different. They're meant to feel different. 

What we're looking at in the NFL's new uniforms are versions of what Nike calls their "Elite 51" uniforms. You can head on over to NikeInc.com for a full rundown on all the different features, and you're going to see right away that there are quite a few of them.

The short version is this: There are a lot of areas where lightness is heavily emphasized, there's mesh material in key places to help with ventilation and there's even padding in some areas (you can check out more photos like the one to the right on the Giants' Facebook page).

"The uniform is completely engineered from the inside out, focusing on creating a system where the baselayer, padding, jersey and pant work in concert," Nike said, via Mike Sando of ESPN.com.

So the uniforms are meant to make players lighter so they can be faster, and they're also meant to help boost performance. You can't see the changes at first glance, but they're there, and they're clearly meant to help.

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz has given them a positive review. According to USA Today, he said the new threads "conform and fit your body," and he went on to explain why this is an advantage for players like him.

"They're tight," he said. "You can't get pulled or snagged on. That's the biggest thing for me: making sure that I'm sleek and I'm fast and I can't be grabbed or held."

Does this mean that every player in the NFL will now be jetting up and down the field at rapid speed while pulling off ridiculous comic-book maneuvers?

I highly doubt it. And if not, that means we're not going to see the changes manifested out on the field either. They'll be just as invisible on the field as they are off the field.

But what matters is that the players are going to know they're wearing different uniforms from the ones they wore in 2011. The performance enhancements will be subtle, but they'll feel them. No doubt quite a few players will tell us all about it.

If this is the payoff of these new uniforms, then Nike has done well. Even if it doesn't look like they have.