The LA Rams New Unis

The LA Rams have finally come out with their new look. They are the last team on the list of reveals and with them the year of the most uniform changes I have seen in one offseason. I love this stuff so it was awesome to see all of it unfold. They say they save the best for last, but that isn't the case this time around.

Now as I always say, everyone has their own opinion and it doesn't mean one is right over another. To me, uniforms and logos are subjective. They're art. They hit different people in different ways. That's why I always get frustrated with "experts" who deem team unis and logos bad (or great) as if their word is final. I am not here to tell you what you think is wrong. If you love them, awesome. I genuinely hope you enjoy them. But for me, these just missed the target so badly.

First, let's start with the helmet. They finally have the helmet match the color of the jersey. That is a +1 for me. It always bothered me. I have seen many people upset about the Ram horn being different, but honestly, I dig it. I knew it was going to be like this ever since I saw their new "LA" logo. It was quite obvious to me so this wasn't surprising at all. The blue paint has a metallic finish to it and it looks pretty good. I think the helmet is very nice. Small changes in my opinion, but good ones.

Now that I covered the helmet, let's move on to the home uni. The first thing I noticed was the gradient numbers. This is something I was hoping they would not commit to. I had a feeling this would happen, once again due to the new "LA" logo, but I was just hoping it was something that would stay with the logo. I do not like gradients in my logos or uniforms. I don't think it is visually appealing. So right off the bat, we are starting low.

The next thing I noticed was the horn on the shoulders don't make its way around, in the full horn shape. It is more of a crescent, just like they had been wearing from the last set (featuring the away whites they had been wearing for the last while). I never liked that. The horn on the shoulders like their home unis last season was what I feel they should have kept, just with the new horn design.

I didn't notice it right away, but when I did it downgraded the unis even more. The "Rams" patch on the left upper chest. It looks so out of place and just so.... weird. Unlike the Jaguars and Steelers who I feel make this work, using their actual logo, the Rams just placing a patch that says "RAMS" on the chest makes me scratch my head. I don't like it at all.

Making our way down to the pants and socks to complete the ensemble, we have yellow pants with a thick blue stripe and a thinner white stripe on the front side of the blue stripe. I really don't get the point of the white stripe. At least in the former, it was a blue/white/blue stripe on yellow pants. Having the white alone against the yellow just seems off to me. I just don't think it is a good look. It's odd, which seems to be a running theme with these uniforms. Then you have the option to have the blue pants with the blue jersey. I haven't seen a clear shot from the side to know exactly what the stripe looks like. But from what I can gather from the picture I have seen, it is one thick gradient stripe that goes from white at the waist, to yellow at the knee. Once again, gradient on any part of a uniform doesn't look good to me. Leaving the pants all yellow and all blue would have made these unis a lot better when placed all together. The socks are fine. Sticking with the same straight blue as they have worn for some time now. No issues there.

If I thought the home unis baffled me, holy cow was I taken for a ride with the away's. The first thing I noticed was the fact that they did not have a gradient on the numbers, and they added numbers to the shoulders. Okay, good start. Also, for me, I can better see the design on the numbers. The ram-like curves they added to the number design, which I like. I think it is a nice modern touch. But by seeing the numbers on the shoulders, I also see the horn design on said shoulders has changed from the home unis. Instead of the crescent starting from the front of the shoulder and stopping at the back, this starts about a quarter of the way up and looks more like an ocean wave rather than a horn. Not only that, but the main part of that wave is a brighter white than what the jersey is with a thin yellow stripe on the front side of it. Then you have the numbers on top of that. It looks like a straight-up mess to me. The first thing that came out of my mouth was "What?...". I honestly just don't get it. A white stripe on a white jersey? A different horn design on home and away unis?

Then you have, once again, a chest patch that now says "LOS ANGELES RAMS" in blue on a white patch which also follows the white of the stripe on the shoulders, so it looks different than the jersey. The pants follow the same design as the stripe down the side of the pants is a thick white stripe and a thinner yellow one on the front side. White stripes on white jerseys and pants... I am completely bewildered. I do love my classic, simple, uniforms. But I am all for innovation. If it works. I can't stand the gradient on the home unis, but I'll take those over these white unis any day. I can't even find the words to carry on about these...

Here are my final thoughts on the Rams new unis. Like Jim Parker (@tonopahjim63) tweeted me yesterday, "I like the blue on blue though", I have to agree with him. Out of all of this, even with the gradient numbers and pant stripes, my favorite uni is the blue on blue. I think it is the best look that this set can put forward. I honestly didn't have my bar set too high for these unis as I was fearing the gradient aspect, but those away unis drag these new Rams look to the bottom of the NFL uniform rankings (which I will be putting out very, very, soon.

As I said to start off, all of this is subjective. My opinion is in no way the final verdict of these uniforms. But I hope I was able to help you understand where I am coming from and why I do not like this set at all. I believe this is the only set I am so against this offseason. Those away unis... makes me want to pull my hair out just thinking about it. What do you think? Do you like these new LA Rams look? Do you hate them? Let me know why on twitter!

Thanks for reading!

Photos from @RamsNFL