Nike NFL Uniforms: Technology Greatest Change to New Threads

Nike's NFL uniforms didn't appear to change much, but as it turns out, the biggest changes aren't necessarily visible to the human eye. 

What do I mean? 

Using cutting-edge technology, Nike has drastically altered the weight, flexibility and overall performance of the materials used to make NFL uniforms.

CBSSports.com's Will Brinson wrote an interesting column after speaking with Nike's Creative Football director. 

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"Our overall approach in just about anything we make is 'How can we make this lighter? How can we make it perform better?'" Nike Creative Director for Football Todd Van Horne told CBSSports.com on Tuesday.

Nike made serious changes to the uniforms relative to their predecessors. One such change is an elimination of double-layered padding over the shoulders to make the pads lighter and more streamlined.

"Some of those materials that were two-layered -- like the existing over-the-shoulder panels were two layers and were non-stretch," Van Horne said. "So we thought if we could make it stretch material and make it a single layer and still have the same strength, why wouldn't we want to do that?"

Additionally, Nike wanted to create more unique padding on the uniforms -- fans will notice slightly-raised and indented thigh padding in addition to padding on the rear of the pants.

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Over the last couple of years in college football, we've seen Nike, in their "Pro Combat" series, use advancements in technology with their uniforms to garner to what the players truly desire. 

That's how it should be. 

Especially with a few pounds of pads on, comfort and range of motion is probably more critical to a professional football player than we initially believe.

No NFL player should ever be held back athletically his uniform. That seems obvious, right?

We can't see the tweaks, but the 32 players/models who were on hand in New York City to showcase the new look certainly liked what they had on. 

Here's B/R's NFLDraft365 video of the player's reaction to the fresh threads.

Those Reebok jerseys always looked ill-fitting and somewhat uncomfortable. 

Maybe it'll lead to more interceptions for Kam Chancellor next season. 

Hey, you never know—the Nike uniforms could make a difference.

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