Patriots’ new-look jerseys seen as polarizing by fans

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• Fanatics

The 2020 offseason saw some major changes from the New England Patriots’ perspective — from long-time cornerstone players such as Tom Brady or Stephen Gostkowski leaving the organization, to the departures of offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia and special teams/wide receivers coach Joe Judge, to the changed circumstances surrounding the pre-draft and offseason workout process due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

On top of it all, it also saw the team change its look: the Patriots presented their redesigned outfit for the 2020 season to the world on Monday morning. New England will use a slightly modified version of its all-navy color rush jerseys — which were originally added as an alternative third jersey back in 2016 — as its new home look, while the team also introduced a white-on-navy version as its road ensemble. Side-by-side, the outfit looks as follows:

Patriots/Uni Watch

There may not have been any changes in regards to New England’s “Flying Elvis” logo or its primary color scheme, which were adopted in 1993 and 2000, respectively, but the new look still has seen some major modifications across the board: the silver pants previously worn as part of the home ensemble are gone, as are socks previously worn; the shoulder stripes have been altered; the name-plate font has been adjusted.

All in all, the look is a cleaner one and might serve as a potential link in case the NFL changes its helmet policy to allow the red “Pat Patriot” throwbacks to be introduced as a new third jersey — a move that might happen as early as next offseason. For the time being, however, fans will have to get used to the two designs presented above. And judged by more than 1,500 participants in a recent poll, it might take some time before they do:

Whether it was the all-navy look itself or the new road jerseys and their somewhat funky-looking red-navy-red shoulder stripes, fans are not entirely on board with the redesign: while 52.1 percent answered the question whether or not they liked the Patriots’ new uniforms with “yes,” 47.9 percent have a different opinion. Some of the views might change once the jerseys are actually seen on the field, but for now they are a controversial topic.