Sometimes, when you’re immersed in covering the day to day operations, both on the field and on the business side, of an NFL football team, you’re not quite sure how plugged in the public is to information that you see as very basic. To that point, I’m not sure how many of you reading this even knew that the Houston Texans are getting new uniforms in 2024.
I’m not talking about a slight tweak being overblown as if it’s some massive change, something the Texans have been guilty of before in the uniform realm. I am talking about new shades of blue, new fringe elements, a whole lot of things. It should be exciting, and the plan has been for the unveiling to occur sometime during draft week in April.
I was one of a handful of media members that was invited to a sneak preview last week. We got to see all four uniform designs in person, ask questions, and share our opinions. If you’re wondering how important it was for the Texans to maintain secrecy on these new designs, know that we all had to give up our phones and sign non disclosure agreements before the event started.
Well, when you present something to dozens and dozens of people, the Texans found out that all it takes is one ne’er do well to ruin a surprise, as on Reddit on Monday, this picture surfaced of one of the Texans’ hired models sporting one of the uniform designs:
The response to this picture, after some of us answered the confused Texan fans question of “IS THAT IT?” with “Well, yeah, that’s one of them,” was a combination of anger and laughter, and that’s understandable. That uniform does not show real well on (a) someone standing in some sort of warehouse, and (b) someone wearing #24 who is NOT Derek Stingley!
Fortunately, Texans CEO and Chairman Cal McNair sprung into action! Knowing that the cat was at least one fourth out of the bag, Cal decided to take to Reddit himself and show what the uniforms look like under much better lighting, in a much cooler environment, and most importantly, with ACTUAL NFL players wearing them! Thank you, Nico Collins and Tank Dell!
Again, I was one of the fortunate ones who got to see the new designs, all four of them. The NDA I signed swears me to secrecy about any of the details, but I am allowed to share general opinion, and in my OPINION, the best is yet to come with the release of the other designs, two in particular.
The question is “Will they leak before April?” If they do, we know Cal McNair will be ready with his next chess move.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
