Alternative Helmet Rules For 2022, What's This Mean For Washington?

The NFL finally gave in on Thursday and announced that it will allow teams to wear two different helmets during the season starting in 2022.

On Thursday, NFL teams received a memo from the league office, informing them that they may resume wearing two different helmets beginning in 2022. Gone is the so-called "one-helmet rule" that prevented teams from wearing "throwback" helmets since 2014. 

The 2014 rule was instituted for player safety concerns and decreed that the one helmets worn by teams were limited to only their primary color. 

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The new rule will allow each player to have two helmets of different colors, providing they are the same model and are fit-tested at the same time.

NFL approves use of alternate helmets beginning in 2022https://t.co/f1ekESsh1g pic.twitter.com/xgQCl1Hxed

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) June 24, 2021

Of course, being the NFL, there are additional rules that accompany this announcement. Here are the guidelines according to NFL.com:

• Teams must obtain an entirely new set of alternate color helmets for all players
• Alternate color helmets must be the same make, model, and size as each player’s primary helmet
• Alternate color helmets must be made available to all players at the start of training camp and should be fit at the same time as the primary helmet
• Alternate color helmets must be worn in practice at a minimum during the week leading up to the game in which they will be used

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Teams must also let the league know if they plan to move forward with an alternate helmet by the end of July this season. That means although fans might not know what each team has planned for an alternative, they will know which teams will be participating.

This could mean the return of some old fan favorites from their respective teams including New England's "Pat the Patriot", "Bucco Bruce" in Tampa, kelly green Eagles uniforms, black helmets in New Orleans, and red helmets in Atlanta.

What does this mean for the WFT? Since they have discarded their former moniker and logo they could choose a variation of a former uniform or color combination that represents a previous uniform incarnation.

That could be one case, or Washington Football fans can hope for a new nickname by the time this rule becomes effective in 2022, making perhaps the 2020 uniform an 'alternative' for the next generation of football in D.C.

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