Professional football is now a year-round sport. When the NFL finished its season in February, the XFL held down the spring. On Saturday, the Arlington Renegades became your new XFL champions by defeating the D.C. Defenders, 35-26, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
It’s now the USFL’s turn to give die-hard football fans gridiron highlights. The league will have seven weeks to make an impact.
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The 2.0 version of the United States Football League is halfway through its second season four decades after originally making its presence as the alternative to NFL football. The inaugural USFL season took place in 1983, as the Michigan Panthers beat the Philadelphia Stars in the league championship game at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
This year’s USFL features the Panthers and the Stars, along with two other original teams: the Birmingham Stallions and the New Jersey Generals. Nostalgia is the name of the game for the league in its current state, as it features four other teams from the 1984 season: the Houston Gamblers, the New Orleans Breakers, the Memphis Showboats and the Pittsburgh Maulers.
Last week featured three of the four games decided by seven points or fewer. The Breakers have the league’s best record at 4-1, but in a league where five of the eight teams are 2-3 on the year — including every team in the North Division — there are no true favorites to watch. The Athletic’s Bill Shea appreciated his first-game fan experience at the end of last month and sees that the league is doing its part to build in something of a grassroots effort. TV ratings also have seen positives.
The immediate attraction for some? It often comes back to jerseys. Let’s be honest: Uniforms count in a new league — contrary to what football purists may assume.
Media Day was a vibe 🔥👏 pic.twitter.com/xpz8dKGjF9
— USFL (@USFL) April 3, 2023
We at The Athletic asked the question: Which USFL team has the best-looking jerseys? Esteemed writers Jason Jones, Matt Barrows and Nick Kosmider got together for a lighthearted roundtable discussion to offer their opinions on each of the eight teams’ jerseys. They ranked each team using a scoring system in which eight points were given to their favorite jersey and one point was given to their least favorite. (This explains the numbers in parentheses next to each writer’s name below.)
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(All photos below are courtesy of the USFL.)
8. New Jersey Generals (8 points)
Record: 2-3 (North Division)
Head coach: Mike Riley
Players to watch: QB De’Andre Johnson, LB Chris Orr, NT Toby Johnson, RB Darius Victor
Barrows (4): While I respect that the Generals aren’t trying too hard, they may not be trying hard enough. Slap an “R” on the side of the helmet and they could be Rutgers.
Jones (3): If the Generals want to be Rutgers, just say so. Easily the most basic uniform of the bunch. Might as well have created this one on Madden.
Kosmider (1): The only way these are different from the Birmingham Stallions’ uniforms (see later) is in the black trim they put around the red stripe up the pants. I get that we are going for simplicity, but these feel like something a fifth-grade P.E. coach would pull out of the equipment closet before a game of dodgeball.
6. (tie) Pittsburgh Maulers (10)
Record: 2-3 (North Division)
Head coach: Ray Horton
Players to watch: QB Troy Williams, DT Olive Sagapolu, LB Kyahva Tezino, WR/PR Isiah Hennie
Jones (5): If the Pittsburgh Steelers had a minor-league team, this would be their uniform. I get that Pittsburgh teams love their black and gold, so I shouldn’t be shocked this is the color scheme. But it would have been nice if they did something different.
Kosmider (4): Yes, these would be the Steelers uniforms if their practice squad had its own league, but this is the best logo of the bunch. It looks especially cool when encircled and placed against the black background of the helmet.
Barrows (1): What they were going for: A summer version of Pittsburgh’s other professional football team. What they ended up with: Off-brand Steelers.
Birmingham Stallions (10)
Record: 3-2 (South Division)
Head coach: Skip Holtz
Players to watch: QB Alex McGough, WR Davion Davis, TE Jace Sternberger, WR/KR Deon Cain
Kosmider (3): Perhaps I don’t have the world’s most discerning eye for details — OK, take away the “perhaps” — but the Stallions, Generals and Philadelphia Stars have almost the exact same uniforms. I give the Stallions the nod at the top of this underwhelming group because they didn’t try to make it unnecessarily complicated with the pants. The red socks with the red strip on the white pants is a good look.
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Barrows (5): Red and gold make for a strong uniform combination, which is perhaps why three of eight USFL teams went that direction. The Stallions pull it off the best, although the duds end up skewing more to Doug Flutie and Boston College than Joe Montana and the 49ers.
Jones (2): One of three uniforms that give me 49ers vibes. Not one of my favorite color combinations (I grew up rooting against the Niners with a passion), but I appear to be in the minority when it comes to not liking the color combo.
5. Memphis Showboats (11)
Record: 2-3 (South Division)
Head coach: Todd Haley
Players to watch: QB Cole Kelley, S Troy Warner, DE Jeff McCulloch, WR Vinny Papale
Kosmider (5): These would be ranked much higher if the boat logo looked like … well, a boat. Instead it looks like a chopper bike driving through the mud. But the color combination is great, and the uniform itself is a clean design.
Jones (4): I see a hint of Memphis Grizzlies colors, which I like. That’s the most fearsome boat on a helmet I’ve ever seen. (Admittedly I haven’t seen many boats on helmets.) The colors are cool, but the weird shoulder paneling isn’t.
Barrows (2): The colors and design are fine; it’s the logo that hurts the eye. It requires several seconds of squinting before you realize it’s a … side-paddle steamer going Mach 2? Steamboats are languid and graceful. If you want flash, change the name to Memphis Cigarette Boats.
4. Philadelphia Stars (12)
Record: 2-3 (North Division)
Head coach: Bart Andrus
Players to watch: QB Case Cookus WR Devin Gray, WR Corey Coleman, K Luis Aguilar
Jones (7): I assume the stripes on the helmet and down the side of the jersey and pants are supposed to be part of the “stars and stripes” theme. It’s kind of funky, but I can dig it. It’s distinctive. It stands out — even if it looks a little weird.
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Barrows (3): The original Stars uniform from the 1980s featured a deep, twinkly gold. This one resembles French’s mustard. And to me, the helmet stripe looks like tire tracks. Being run over is not the image a football team wants to convey.
Kosmider (2): If Heinz 57 is running low on mustard, it’s because most of it was spilled onto these Stars uniforms — only it has random-looking dashes of ketchup splashed in, too, as if a toddler was trying to mix his own concoction. The retro-looking star logo on the helmet is great, but there is far too much else going on to appreciate it.
3. Michigan Panthers (16)
Record: 2-3 (North Division)
Head coach: Mike Nolan
Players to watch: RB Reggie Corbin, DE Breeland Speaks, LB Frank Ginda, QB Josh Love
Barrows (8): The Merlot-colored home jerseys make me want to head to the market for some shortbread crackers and a nice brie. The color is rich and unique (am I picking up a hint of plum?), while the light-blue stripe is an effective accent. I like the logo, too, although it might get lost on modern helmets, which are full of grooves, panels and indentations.
Kosmider (7): These uniforms have a lot going on, but somehow, it works. I don’t typically think of maroon and baby blue as the peas and carrots of the color wheel, but they work well together in this design, particularly on the home jerseys. Only thing I docked them for was the light-yellow pants with the home uniforms. Should have used the darker orange pants for both sets.
Jones (1): Not sure what to make of these. The color combination does nothing for me. Thought maybe the uniform was a nod to Western Michigan athletics at first glance. But nah, just not my favorite.
2. Houston Gamblers (18)
Record: 3-2 (South Division)
Head coach: Curtis Johnson
Players to watch: RB Mark Thompson, WR Justin Hall, DE Ronheen Bingham, WR Anthony Ratliff-Williams
Kosmider (6): These look like a mix of the uniforms worn by the prison guards and the inmates in “The Longest Yard,” which I think is a good thing. The home uniforms would have been better off with the light gray pants, but that’s nitpicking. These are solidly menacing.
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Jones (6): My first thought was “The Longest Yard,” but this combo works for me. I like the switch of having home and road pants, too. I wish more teams would do that. If the Gamblers were going for the bad-guy look, they’ve got it covered for the USFL as the only team going with black as a primary jersey color.
Barrows (6): Lock your doors, everyone! The Gamblers’ unis make them the bad boys of the USFL. I could do without the armpit stripe, which seems like a 1990s fad, but the gray-black combo brings a sense of menace, and the logo pops on the black helmet.
1. New Orleans Breakers (23)
Record: 4-1 (South Division)
Head coach: John DeFilippo
Players to watch: QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson, RB Wes Hills, WR Sage Surratt, DE Anree Saint-Amour
Jones (8): Easily my favorite uniform. I like that there are no numbers on the sleeve. The Breakers opted to go with numbers on the shoulders, a nice change. Even though the uniforms remind me of a water advertisement, they’re my favorite of the league.
Kosmider (8): It is not easy to pull off two shades of the same color on a uniform, but the Breakers make it look effortless with the light blue and royal blue combination. The alignment of the waves on the shoulders and the helmets makes players who wear these look fast. Maybe that’s why they were leading the league in offense entering last weekend’s games.
Barrows (7): These uniforms don’t look like any other team’s, which is appropriate for a one-of-a-kind city like New Orleans. The rounded shape of the wave nicely adapts to the curves of a shoulder pad and a football helmet. The royal blue home jersey is particularly splashing, er, smashing.
Which USFL team has your favorite jersey? Drop a line or two in the comments section.
(Top photo: Vasha Hunt / USA Today)
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