Jacksonville Jaguars Uniform History

The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the newer franchises in the NFL. Located on the Atlantic coast of Florida, Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida and the fourth largest metro area in the state. The Jaguars played their first NFL game in 1995 as a pure expansion team alongside the Carolina Panthers. This was the last time to date that the NFL introduced two expansion franchises in the same year.

Owned by Shahid Kahn, the Jaguars originally competed in the AFC Central. This was until 2002 when the NFL split each of its two conferences into four divisions as it reached 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texas. At this point, the Jaguars were moved to the AFC South where they compete alongside the Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, and Texas.

Here is a look at the history of the Jaguars logo and uniform design along with a look at some famous players that have worn Jaguars teal, black, and gold.

Jacksonville Jaguars Logo History & Changes

The Jaguars hadn’t even played an NFL game before their intended logo was redesigned. Wayne Weaver, the Jaguars owner at the time, held up a proposed silver helmet and teal jersey combo at the NFL owners’ meeting in Chicago the day after the franchise was awarded an expansion bid. The problem was that the leaping golden Jaguar looked too much like the logo of the car company and Ford – the then-parent company of Jaguar Motors – was not happy. The logo was redesigned immediately and Jaguar was named the official car of the franchise to stop a lawsuit from occurring.

Previous Logo 1995-2012

The Jaguars have only had two versions of their main logo. The first of these was introduced with the team in its expansion year of 1995 and was kept basically the same until 2012. The original logo removed the full jaguar body that was causing problems with Ford, focusing instead on the snarling head of a jaguar. The most noticeable feature is the teal tongue, something that was the idea of Weaver’s wife and tied the logo color into the same template as the rest of the uniform.

One neat piece of branding was that for the Jaguars’ first-ever home game, each fan in attendance was given a teal candy. This turned their tongue to the same color as the logo for a period of time.

Current Logo 2013 – Present

The new logo was introduced in 2013 when Kahn took control of the franchise. The design team wanted to keep the core concept of the jaguar head, but give it a more modern and sleeker look. The result was that they rounded and streamlines to homage, a technique that gave the logo a more fearsome feel. They also added more touches of teal – to the nose and eye – to complete a rebrand that was both minimal and also highly effective.

Jacksonville Jaguars Uniform History & Changes

As the Jaguars are based in a sub-tropical climate, they have historically worn their road white uniforms at home early in the season. The Jags play plenty of their home games at 1pm EST, meaning that the temperature is soaring into the 90s. Weaning white at home means the opponent has to wear a color, giving Jacksonville a big advantage before the game has even kicked off.

Jacksonville Jaguars Helmet History & Changes

The Jags helmet in 2022 will be right back where it started in 1995. This means that the Jags will continue to use the helmet design that they have had since 2018, a full black helmet with a black facemask. This is the helmet most associated with the Jags as they had the same design (albeit with the old logo) on their helmets from their expansion in 1995 all the way through until 2008.

The franchise has, however, had two different helmet color schemes in the period from 2009 through 2017. The first of these ran from 2009 until 2012 and saw a cool transition of the helmet from the traditional black at the base and rear through to Jaguars teal at the front and on the crown. It was a two-tone look that worked and was amplified by the direction of light hitting the helmet.

It worked so well in fact that the other design the Jags used was a play on it. With the logo rebrand in 2013, a new helmet was created that ran until 2017. This helmet reversed the position of the black – it was now on the crown and on top – and replaced the teal on the colorway with the black changing to gold at the back and base.

Uniforms History

The Jags jerseys have always been teal with white numbers for home games and white with teal numbers for road games. Their original uniform in 1995 also features white pants with teal, black, and gold stripes. Here is a look at major uniform changes through the years.

1995 – The expansion Jags were the first NFL team with complex logos on the sleeves as a prowling jaguar was the emblem of choice for the franchise.

2002 – A black jersey was introduced as a third color alternate. Black pants with team color stripes were also introduced to be worn with either the white or teal jersey color.

2004 – NFL teams are permitted a formal uniform change every five years and the Jags took advantage of this in 2004. The away uniform became almost teal-free. The teal numbers became black and limited teal joined gold as a trim color instead. The stripes on the pants were replaced by Jaguar logos on the hips.

2009 – A complete restructure was ordered after Weaver grew tired of the number of uniform styles being used. Gold was almost entirely scrapped from the design with it only being found on the logo as the Jags went back to their basics of teal and black as the main color scheme. The black jersey was decommissioned, with the team wearing exclusively white or teal.

2012 – New owner Shahid Khan moved the teal jersey to alternate status as the Jags brought back the black jersey as their primary home jersey of choice.

2013 – Nike jerseys with the road look going back to the white with teal that the franchise entered the league with. 

2015 – The NFL and Nike put on the (debatably awful) color rush program that sometimes made games hard on the eyes. The Jags rolled out an all-gold uniform with gold jerseys and pants.

2018 – No borders on the jersey numbers for the first time ever. No stripes or team logos on the pants, just the NFL shied and Nike logo. Black remains the home jersey color.

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