Ranking the best jerseys for a potential comeback

While there may not be a Lombardi Trophy on display in the lobby of the team’s Orchard Park headquarters, the Buffalo Bills have a proud history that spans six decades, multiple professional leagues and memories that stretch back generations. The franchise is one of the most passionate in the NFL, with the love the Western New York community has shown for the franchise and its players over the past 65 years matched by few fans in all of professional sports.

And while the Bills have been around for decades, their branding has remained largely stagnant. The team has worn red, white, and blue since 1962 (its third season), adopting its current “charging Buffalo” logo in 1974. Buffalo hasn’t experimented much with its look over its history; that said, the team has taken the field in a handful of different uniforms over the years, some of which have been received… better than others, to put it mildly.

With the NFL’s recent relaxation of uniform and helmet rules sparking a wave of new and old looks across the league, many Bills fans have been calling for the team to introduce an alternate jersey that harkens back to a set of uniforms from the past. Inspired by the Jacksonville Jaguars’ recently unveiled throwback jerseys, we decided to rank every regularly used home jersey in Buffalo’s history based on how willing we are to see it reintroduced as a contemporary alternate look.

No, just no.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a team trying to modernize, or simply progressits brand, no matter how iconic its previous appearance may have been. That said, a uniform change shouldn’t be made unless it’s a clear upgrade…and the Bills’ jersey redesign in the early 21st century was anything but.

Buffalo introduced navy blue to its color palette in 2002, moving away from the iconic uniforms associated with its dominant team of the early 1990s in favor of a dark “modern” look that featured ugly navy home uniforms. The entire brand revival was simply poorly executed; the jersey design was boring, there was weird royal blue piping, the colors blended into each other, the primary color was not the one historically associated with the team, etc.

They were just plain ugly. The mediocre on-field product offered at the time didn’t help matters at all; the uniforms are associated with one of the worst stretches in team history, a period in which the Bills consistently missed on quarterbacks they marketed as franchise saviors without ever consistently being In playoff talk, let alone qualifying for the playoffs. The Bills retired those uniforms in 2011, adopting a more 1960s-inspired look; we’d have no problem with them staying retired.

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An often overlooked period in Buffalo’s aesthetic history, the Bills didn’t use red in their uniforms for their first two seasons. Instead, they wore what was essentially a carbon copy of the Detroit Lions’ jerseys, which was fitting given that team founder Ralph Wilson Jr. was originally a minority shareholder in the Motor City’s NFL franchise. They’re not ugly, they’re just a bit boring and uninspired. The look is also not historically associated with the Bills, and so, it would be odd to see the team introduce a throwback that seems more aesthetically tied to their Great Lakes brethren. It would be a neat one-off, though.

After introducing red into its color scheme in 1962 and briefly wearing a uniform with stripes on the upper shoulders, Buffalo introduced royal blue jerseys with thin red and white lines on the arms in 1964. They’re plain jerseys—and the standing buffalo helmet is iconic—but they served as the inspiration for the team’s 2011 refresh, and the Bills are essentially wearing what’s a modernized version of that look now. Buffalo has already returned to this era once, and a modern return to this era would result in a largely homogenized uniform wardrobe.

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The Bills thickened the sleeves of their uniform in 1975, creating a very solid look that, again, closely resembles the team’s current ensemble. Buffalo adopted red socks in 1981 and traded their white helmets for red headwear in 1984, establishing what would essentially be a prototype for their most iconic look in history. If the team wants to make a half-hearted effort at a throwback uniform, pairing a red helmet and red socks with their current home uniform would essentially serve as a throwback to their 1984-85 look. It’s not a terrible result, but if they want to get close to a nice throwback, they might as well finish the job.

In 1986, Buffalo switched to a single stripe on each sleeve, largely retaining that look until its failed 2002 refresh. The single-stripe jerseys are perhaps the most iconic in team history for two major reasons: A) they look good, and B) they’re associated with one of the most famous eras in team history. Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and Bruce Smith donned these uniforms while leading the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s, and the jerseys have remained fondly remembered by fans who recall their memories as young football fans.

The thick arm stripes, the red helmets, the colorful socks, the nostalgia: these uniforms are simply fantastic. This era is the obvious choice to celebrate with a contemporary throwback look for good reason: These are probably the best jerseys in team history, and it would be wonderful to see players like Josh Allen, Matt Milano, and Dalton Kincaid wearing them. It seems there’s no better time than the 2025 NFL season, which will be the team’s last at Highmark Stadium.

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