Bills unveil surprise new alternate uniform with helmet and jersey color never worn in team history

After 66 seasons of existence, the Buffalo Bills have decided that it's time to reinvent the wheel. The Bills have never worn a gray jersey or a blue helmet in franchise history, but they're going to do both of those things this year after unveiling a new "Nickel City" alternate. 

Since the franchise was founded in 1960, the Bills have only worn either a red, white or blue jersey, but they made the decision to add a gray look this year to pay homage to the fact that Buffalo is known as the "Nickel City." 

Although this is the first time the Bills have worn a gray jersey, this is NOT the first time they've incorporated the color into their uniforms. During the Bills' first three seasons of existence, they wore silver/gray pants and a silver/gray helmet. 

When NFL teams release an alternate uniform, they must use a color already in the team's color palette. Grey has always been one of the team's colors, but the Bills have never really used it, which is why they decided to go with this unique route for their new alternate uniforms, according to Aaron La Porta, the team's director of design. 

"Gray was the one brand color we've never leaned into, so this was a fun challenge," La Porta said. 

As for the helmet, the Bills finally added a blue shell. 

Although blue is one of the team's most prominent colors, the Bills had never had a blue helmet until now. The Bills started wearing white helmets in 1962, and since then, they've worn either white or red. 

The blue helmet has one red stripe that essentially goes all the way around the helmet. The Bills are calling this "The Charge" helmet and the red stripe is there to signify a charging Buffalo (This is basically supposed to be the red line that's coming off the Buffalo on the team's standard logo). 

The Bills are allowed to wear their new alternate uniform for both home and road games, but the team hasn't yet decided when the new uniform will debut. 

The Bills are the third team over the past week to release a new alternate uniform. Last week, the Jets unveiled a new all-white look that they'll wear in Week 2. In the NFC, the Rams dropped two new alternate uniforms on Thursday: A yellow jersey that commemorates the 75th anniversary of their 1951 NFL Championship team, along with an all-white throwback that includes white ram horns on the helmet. 

These three teams won't be the last ones to release a new alternate uniform this year. The NFL's rivalries campaign is back for another season, so the teams in the AFC South and NFC North will all be getting a new alternate at some point over the next few weeks. 

The NFL also had five teams unveil new standard uniforms this offseason, and those teams are the Ravens, Titans, Falcons, Commanders and Rams (The Rams have spent half their offseason releasing new uniforms).