The Best, Worst Uniforms In Every NFL Team’s History: AFC South Edition

Inspired by a recent article at The Athletic that asked various staff members to name the best and worst uniforms in every NFL franchise’s history, we’ve decided to share our opinion on the same subject.

This eight-part series kicked off with the AFC East and now we’re working alphabetically through the conference before moving onto the NFC. We’d love to hear your thoughts for each team in the comments, as well! 

Houston Texans

Best: Current Road Uniforms

One of the more underrated aspects of the Texans’ uniform redesign in 2024 was their decision to adjust their shades of navy blue and red, with the former becoming much darker and the latter much brighter. The contrast of colors really pop on the road design, which includes navy blue helmets, white jerseys, and navy blue pants and should have served as the basis of the entire set with horns on the sleeves rather than the home navy blue and “H-Town Blue” Color Rush set having their own unique sleeve logos.

Worst: 2023 All-Red Alternates

The Texans’ uniforms already felt dated by the time they introduced their “Battle Red” alternate helmets in 2022, so it was a disappointment when they paired them with their red alternate jerseys, pants and socks for a game in 2023 instead of another appearance with their Color Rush design. The shade of red was drab compared to their current all-red look, especially the candy apple red helmets, which are a slight modification – filling the horns on the helmet and sleeves with white – from being one of the best alternates in the league. 

Indianapolis Colts

Best: Current Road Uniforms

The Colts were ahead of the curve when they took the classic uniform design they’ve used since 1957 and added a few modern touches in 2020, including a serifed block number font, standardized helmet logo and new secondary mark on the inside of the back collar. Most fans barely noticed the changes, but with only a few deviations over the last (nearly) 70 years – including gray pants and accents in the early 1980s and the blue facemask and/or pants in the mid-to-late 1990s – the smaller details help this uniform stand above the rest.

Worst: Current “Indiana Nights” Alternates

The one nitpick I have about the Colts’ current road look is the Anvil black Nike Swoosh on the sleeves, which is indistinguishable from royal blue from a distance and simply paved the way for them to introduce their “Indiana Nights” alternate uniforms in 2023. The uniforms feature a unique striping pattern on the shoulders that has a lot of potential from a design standpoint, but the black helmets, collar and cuffs and heather blue jerseys are simply too much of a departure from this traditional franchise’s classic look to work.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Best: Current “Prowler” Throwback Uniforms

The Jaguars all but admitted this is the best uniform in franchise history when they wore it the maximum of four times last season and they appear to be in the process of redesigning their primary uniforms around this look, which was originally worn from 1998-2007. Their current logo is better than the original, but nothing the franchise has worn since the logo was updated touches the teal jerseys with the full-bodied jaguar or the gold on the sleeves, numbers and pants stripes – all of which look better with modern fabric than they did back in the day.

Worst: 2015-16 Color Rush Uniforms

As if their gradient helmets that transitioned from matte black in the front to a glossy gold shell in the back weren’t bad enough on their own, the Jaguars introduced arguably the worst uniform in NFL history with their all-gold Color Rush design. Apparel manufacturers have long struggled to produce appealing shades of gold fabric, so adding mustard gold to an already over-designed set – with claw marks on the collar, contrasting sleeve caps, a custom number font and truncated pants stripes – makes for an (unfortunately) unforgettable uniform.

Tennessee Titans

Best: 1995-98 Oilers’ Road Uniforms

If they featured a red facemask, Tennessee’s new road uniforms that were unveiled in late March would be at the top of the list. But without it, the Houston Oilers’ set that sparked the return to a light blue and red color scheme gets the nod thanks to the consistent striping pattern across the helmet, jersey cuffs, pants and socks. Strong consideration was given to their 2023-24 throwback uniforms, in particular, but there’s something special about the all-white design they wore at the end of their time in Houston and first two seasons in Tennessee. 

Worst: 2018-25 Uniforms With Navy Blue Helmets

While some combinations were more palatable than others, the Titans should have never introduced navy blue helmets as their primary helmet option, perhaps waiting until the NFL relaxed its one-helmet rule in 2022 to introduce an all-navy blue alternate inspired by the neon lights on Broadway under a Nashville night sky (or some other Nike-fueled description). Throw in the sword-inspired shoulder yoke – which works more in theory than practice – and the random blocks of color down the sides of the jerseys and pants and you’ve gotten an overly modern design that almost immediately begged to be replaced.

Photos courtesy of @HoustonTexans, @Colts, @Jaguars, @NFL, @Titans and @Tennessean on X/Twitter.