Every Logo Explained | NFL Teams! 🏈

[Music] the earliest logo for the nfl that i can verify looks like this featuring a shield shape with a field of 30 stars on the top half of the shield overlaying the field of stars is a football the bottom half is alternating red and white stripes creating a stylized american flag that is almost reminiscent of the 10 yard lines of a football field finally the letters nfl fill up the bottom half of the shield note the curly l but now here's a bit of a mystery i can't find precisely when this logo started a usa today article linked below dates it back to around 1940 which is nearly two decades after the founding of the league here's the earliest example of it being used that i could verify in a game program from 1948 and here are two other logos that i've seen on multiple sites that claim to be from before 1940 and while they come up time and time again i have my doubts let's start with this second logo this image is of a crop of a magazine cover from 1966 that appears to be first documented by the blog fliersticker.blogspot.com coming much later than the 1940s logo this seems to be a logo used specifically on the publishing of game programs for a short period of time now to the first logo this logo is currently the logo for the high school athletic league the niagara frontier league in western new york now the niagara frontier league has been around since 1937 so i guess it is possible that this logo was based on the logo of the nfl at the time and if that were the case that would predate our 1940s logo but until i know more conclusively this is the earliest logo that i can find if anyone out there has more info about this mystery i'd love to be able to find answers so comment below now sometime in the 1950s again it's kind of hard to pin down the stripes were made all white the nfl letters stayed on top of it creating a sort of pinstripe effect in my opinion this is more legible but is still kind of messy sometimes this logo is depicted with an all red bottom sometimes it is full blue and has black stripes but for our purposes they're the same logo the shield of this one is narrower and has a more flared point at the bottom of the shield the football on top is replaced by a simplified football there are now 22 visible stars with presumably three obscured by the football giving us a total of 25 stars for the first time around 1960 the logo changed again the earliest i can date it for sure is 1962 and i have a theory that i can't prove you see before 1960 the nfl had no competition and it didn't need to push out its corporate branding because they were literally the only major professional football league but here's the question what happened in 1960 the american football league began as a competitor and the afl immediately used their logo quite a bit to make sure that they were differentiated from the nfl so my guess is this logo change on or around 1960 was a response to the newly founded competition from the afl now this new logo simplifies the color scheme making the whole logo blue using white negative space on the bottom and now only the letters in fl appear in red this makes it very easy to read nfl on the logo the kind of change you might make if you didn't want people confusing your product with the afl the shape of the letters themself also changed to a thicker weight taking up much more of that white space this logo continues to have 25 stars and continues to use the same flare tips on the left and right sides of the shield here's an example from a program used in 1962 in the 1984 logo update there are only a couple of changes the red of the nfl letters is brightened the border around the shield is thickened and the sides of the shield are straightened eliminating the outward turn of the tips finally in 2008 they unveiled the logo that we have today the blue of the shield is darkened the 25 stars are replaced with eight stars those eight stars standing for the eight divisions of the nfl and the football is replaced with a cleaner more stylized ball that is placed on the shield at a steep angle note also that the font of the lettering is adjusted no more curly l instead this font trades the rounded edges for firm angled ones but now that we know the design of the league logo we can move on to look at each team as i discussed in my video about every nfl team name the arizona cardinals began as morgan athletic club in 1898. the best we have for evidence of their logo is a photo of the team wearing matching shirts emblazoned with the letter m for our purposes we'll call that a logo now it doesn't appear that there was a logo during the time that the team was named the racine normals or the racine cardinals but when they were renamed to the chicago cardinals in 1920 they adopted a logo with a sea nested inside another sea the bigger shaped sea might be a little bit familiar as it is quite similar to the cincinnati reds and the eventual chicago bears logos briefly in 1944 during world war ii the team played a season as card pit merging with the pittsburgh steelers to the extent that they had a logo it was a word mark with the abbreviated name in 1947 the chicago cardinals adopted a new logo featuring a cardinal perched on football laces but through the 1950s the cardinals also had a secondary logo of a humanoid cardinal in cleats carrying a football behind the bird is a pennant that reads go go chicago with the team name cardinals across in front when the team moved to st louis becoming the st louis cardinals they adopted that secondary logo and when the gateway arch in st louis was nearing its completion the arch was added to the logo with the humanoid cardinal running in front of it in 1970 the logo was simplified looking much closer to the logo we know today featuring the head of a cardinal in profile upon moving to phoenix arizona in 1988 the logo was slightly refined adding a small black border around the logo finally in 2005 in anticipation of moving into their new stadium the team brand was stylized the way we know it today this cardinal logo has sharper lines and a fiercer demeanor with a thick bold border around it although the packers are one of the oldest teams in the nfl according to an article from packers.com in 2012 the team did not have an official logo until 1950. in the time between the team's founding in 1919 and 1950 there were a handful of logos being used here's a few examples now the first official logo featured the words packers in all caps and had two goal posts on either side and a football in the background in 1956 a new logo was created a football as the background with a big green silhouette of the state of wisconsin a star on the map marks the city of green bay and on the very top layer is a football player in his throwing motion during this time in 1959 another logo emerged designed to be on team clothing it was a gold interlocked g and b for green bay but finally in 1961 the packers adopted the large green g that we are familiar with today and that logo took one more evolution in 1980 when a thin border of gold was added giving us the final version of the packers logo the first logo for the chicago bears is from when they began as the decatur staleys a team owned by ae staley manufacturing company several websites claimed that the first logo is designed after the company logo these are the two that are typically shown on these sites as the original logo and you may be able to tell from my word choice but i don't find these to be particularly credible claims the logo used by the bear's 100 years celebration when they returned back to decatur illinois looked like this but i also kind of think this one was also created after the fact just for this event to the extent that i can verify a logo for aes they lead the company it looks like this stylized writing of the company name with the l and y elongated you can find that stamped on the ad on the back of many of the company's magazine the staley fellowship journal this one here is from 1920 and as you can see on the back is the same company word mark i haven't been able to find any logos being used for the football team even in the publications that the company published that mentioned the team by name so for our purposes we will skip over the staley logos and go straight to the bears the first chicago bear logo was used starting in 1940 it featured a realistic bear running with a football and perhaps giving a stiff arm to boot in 1946 the logo was redesigned with a dark blue bear atop an orange football seemingly in a crouch ready to pounce in 1962 the bears first began using the c-shaped logo on their helmets the first implementation of the sea on their helmets was a dark navy outline with white filling in the shape in 1974 it was redesigned a final time the bears logo has been the iconic dark navy c-shape with the smaller orange sea and white trim in between ever since the earliest logos of the new york giants date back to 1945 and typically depict a football player who is literally a giant towering over buildings although hard to find a concrete source the earliest versions appear something like this across the top following the curve of the logo are the words new york football giants the legal name of the franchise and a distinguisher from the then new york giants baseball club in 1950 this logo was updated but kept all of the elements intact this logo also changes color scheme to match the red white and blue color scheme of the new york giants franchise in 1956 a new logo was designed by marie barkley steinmueller i tried to get access to the press release that i believe would have confirmed that information unfortunately the wayback machine didn't have that one archived but keeping the idea of the giant football player this logo depicts the giant dropping back for a pass towering over a football stadium designed by the same designer in 1961 the new york giants introduced the first use of the lowercase ny logo now in the characteristic giant's blue color we think of today in 1975 they tried for a new logo design this one with a capitalized in and featuring the letters in white negative space outlined by blue that logo did not last long and the very next season was replaced with the word mark logo all caps giants in 1976. keeping the blue the letters in underscore are outlined with thin red lines finally in 2000 the lowercase ny logo made her return first introducing the world to the giants logo we know today the design is identical to the original lowercase in y giant's logo but it borrows the red and blue color scheme of the giant's word mark beginning in the nfl in 1930 as the portsmouth spartans to the extent that the lions then spartans had a logo it was most likely closer to what we would call a word mark portsmouthspartans.org was a cool resource to look at this period of time in detroit lions history the logo would probably look something like this with purple and gold lettering and outlines around the letters but it was also not uncommon to have no official logo at the time in 1934 the team relocated to detroit and this is the first logo we have from that earlier time some sources dating it all the way back to 1934 when the team first moved while others dated more conservatively to 1952 this logo features a football player running with a ball standing behind a lion perched ready to attack in 1961 william clay ford became the owner of the lions his arrival coincided with a new logo design this new logo also introduced the lion's mane color of honolulu blue it features a minimalistic lion on top of two stripes of the lions team colors the aforementioned honolulu blue and silver the lions logo then took an evolutionary turn towards the logo we're familiar with today this iteration featured a fully silhouetted lion in honolulu blue with a thin outline also in honolulu blue creating a white negative space around the lion silhouette now here's where things get a bit confusing most of the sites you find list this logo as beginning in 1970. i'm just going to say it i think all of those sites are wrong an article from espn about the yet discussed 2009 logo change mentions quote helmets now feature the new logo on each side it's the most significant change since 1961 when the logo was originally placed on the helmets doing a bit more research wayne state university library has an online archive with many photos of detroit's 1961 season in the photos you can clearly see the lions logo on the team's helmet furthermore you can pull up photos from 1959 or 1960 and the helmets have no logo so we're gonna date this logo from 1961. now that silhouette logo would undergo a slight change in 2003 when the thin blue outline was exchanged for a thick black outline in 2009 the silhouette was dropped for a more detailed lion you can see more detail in the lion's mane as well as the lion's eyes teeth and claws finally in 2017 the lions updated their logo a final time ditching the black outline for silver this change was made to remove black entirely from the team's branding as a color quote we made it a priority to emphasize our classic color combination of honolulu blue and silver beginning in 1932 as the boston braves the washington commander's original name and logo was the same as their landlords at the time the boston braves baseball team who would later become the atlanta braves the logo depicts a native american wearing a war bonnet traditionally worn by plains indian native american tribes the very next year they moved across town becoming the boston redskins and creating a new logo to go with their new name this logo depicts a black and white profile of a native american man with feathers attached to the back of his hair upon moving to the washington dc area in 1937 the logo was colorized and refined in 1960 the logo took a monochromatic turn the logo is now fully in the team's burgundy color with the portrait of the native american man encircled the circle has two additional feathers hanging off from the outer circle in 1965 the team began using a new logo dropping the portrait altogether the logo became an arrow with a feather keeping the burgundy as an accent color and introducing gold to the logo as one of the team's other primary colors but in 1970 the team returned to the monochromatic theme this new logo takes the design elements of the 1960 design a decade earlier but replaces the portrait with the letter r for the team's namesake in 1972 the portrait of the native american man in profile is returned to the center of the circle and the rest of the circle was colorized primarily with gold departing from the burgundy colored logos for a single season in 1982 the feathers of the logo were curled in hugging the edge of the circle i've seen sites say that this logo was also facing backwards but from what i can tell by looking at photos it just depends on the side of the helmet that it appeared on the logo always faces forward on the helmet which is the same for the logos being used before it and it appears in most printed material from that year the team was still using the previous logo in 1983 the very next year the team returned to its original 1972 design in 2020 the team announced a plan to change their name becoming the washington football team as a two season placeholder their logo was simply a gold w finally in 2022 the team announced their new name the washington commanders with that new name came the new logo also a w but with burgundy in diagonal lines this slanted stripe effect on the new logo is meant to be reminiscent of the insignia that we see on the commander insignia of the us navy starting out in 1933 the pittsburgh steelers began as the pittsburgh pirates named after their baseball landlords for a logo they used the city coat of arms that appears on the city seal and city flag of pittsburgh in 1940 the team was renamed to the steelers and a new logo was designed to match the new name this logo is football shaped with pittsburgh steelers across the top and football club across the bottom that's right the steelers were following the mls rebranding plans half a century before the mls even existed in the center of the football is a three-paneled depiction of smokestacks metalworks and factories depicting the steel industry historically important to the city of pittsburgh during world war ii twice the steelers merged with other teams to ensure both were capable of fielding a full team the first time was in 1943 when the steelers merged with the eagles becoming known as the steagles their logo at the time was an eagle clutching a football which also was the logo of the eagles at the time this was often printed in black on black and white ticket stubs like you see here the next year was spent merged with the chicago cardinals and like we discussed in the cardinals section to the extent that there was a logo it was a word mark of the combined names after the two mergers in 1945 the steelers returned to their original logo in 1962 a new logo was designed this logo was gold and black and featured a steel worker with a hard hat on standing on a steel i-beam and kicking a football this character is the origin of the steelers mascot steely mcbean in 1969 the steelers unveiled a new logo this logo is almost identical to the one that they have today the design is based off of the steel mark created by us steel the three diamond shapes of the original steel mark are called hypocycloids and were a part of a publicity campaign to educate the public on the importance of the steel industry in their daily lives the hypocycloids have dual meanings first the quote steel lightens your work brightens your leisure and widens your world second the colors represent the three materials used to manufacture steel yellow for coal orange for iron ore and blue for steel scrap when the steelers finally adopted this logo they altered the color slightly yellow becoming orange or gold at the top the orange becoming red and the blue becoming a darker more muted shade of blue this allowed the team to trademark their own logo separate from the steel mark finally in 2002 a black outline was added to the logo giving us the final logo that we know today the eagle name and logo was chosen in 1933 after president fdr's new deal and the nra's blue eagle logo nra standing for the national recovery administration seeking to bring industry labor and government together the original logo also a blue eagle is depicted carrying a football in 1936 the logo was changed to a green eagle perched atop a football and around 1942 if not slightly earlier they changed the logo to a more simplified version of an eagle clutching a football the eagle taking a bit more of a striking pose and this is the one that we saw in the steelers section in 1948 the logo was again altered showing the eagle in flight holding a football that same concept in 1969 was heavily stylized with almost an art deco inspired wing shape and though heavily stylized is still striking the same familiar pose they appear to have returned to the previous logo for the 1973 season though i have seen a few pennants with the iconic helmet with eagle wings as the logo but you can clearly see the older logo being used in the 1973 media guide linked below the winged helmet and eagle continued to be used as logos for the team seemingly interchangeably though the helmet was used more in print media while the eagle would eventually be on the sleeves of the jerseys in 1987 the eagle was redesigned to a more color-real depiction of an eagle in the direction that it is flying is altered from right to left finally in 1996 the eagles unveiled a more contemporary logo of an eagle head in a fierce pose and that is the logo that they still use to this day the first rams logo dates back to 1941 when they were the cleveland rams the logo features a blue ram's head tilted down in a ramming position after a hiatus in 1943 for world war ii a new less realistic rams head replaces the previous one dark blue accents the white of the rest of the logo and the team kept this logo the same when they moved to los angeles california in 1946 in 1951 the rams unveiled a new logo of a white rams head with yellow horns returning to a more real-to-life depiction of a ram in 1970 that ram's head was redesigned to a black and white version of the same logo this monochromatic version also allowed for a fully colored and yellow version as well in 1983 the rams logo became a blue helmet depicting the yellow ram's horns on the side of the helmet this is just like the ones that they wore on the field this would continue to be used throughout the 1980s in 1984 the la rams introduced a word mark logo of the word rams with the letters l a cut out of the r and a of rams around 1989 the helmet logo was updated to a more three-dimensional design that would continue to be used throughout the 1990s when they moved to st louis in 1995 a new word mark logo was created to coincide with the move at the bottom is the word rams with st louis in the pennant shape above it above the words is a two-stripe arc of the rams yellow and blue colors mirroring the shape of the st louis gateway arch in 2000 the team unveiled a new logo design of a ram this time even more stylized like the logos that preceded it this logo is posed in a position to ram the gold and blue colors are a departure from the previous designs as well they would keep this logo during the remainder of their time in st louis and continue with this logo during their first year back in los angeles in 2016. in 2017 the los angeles rams changed the logo to a monochromatic version of the ram logo with blue and white colors almost hearkening back to the original ram's head logo finally coinciding with their move into the newly built stadium in la the rams unveiled a full rebranding the new logo is the letters la with a ram horn spiraling off of the top of the letter a it keeps the spiral shape of old rams logos and creates an la combination that is similar to what you might see from the la dodgers or the la kings first logo of the cleveland browns dates back to at least 1948 and features a brownie elf holding a football the brownie elf was chosen as a play on words close to the name of the football team the cleveland browns a brownie is a household spirit of scottish folklore the brownie is depicted with a small crown-like hat in a brown tunic in 1959 the original brownie logo was updated and in some ways simplified the brownie is now wearing the team color of burnt orange with matching shoes the crown is replaced with a small loose cap in 1970 the brownie logo was dropped in favor of a logo designed to look like the cleveland browns helmet the first one is a flat one-dimensional logo of the helmet in profile in 1986 the brown's second helmet logo became more three-dimensional and that was followed up with a slight redesign with an updated face mask shape in 1992 in 2006 the logo was redesigned with a gray face mask and finally in 2015 the logo was redesigned again eliminating the gray in favor of fully depicting the helmet in the team colors of orange brown and white the burnt orange used in this logo is more vibrant and saturated than in previous logos the original san francisco 49ers logo dates back to the very start of the football team in 1946. in martin jacobs book san francisco 49ers he describes the original logo saying quote the team's original logo depicted san francisco's wild beginnings it consisted of a prospector clad in boots in a lumberjack shirt firing a pair of pistols one shot just misses the miner's head while the other misses his foot the logo was taken from a design seen on the side of railway freight cars in that picture the prospector was in front of a saloon though the 49ers dropped the saloon from the logo especially early on the smoke coming out of the gun above the prospector's head would spell out 49ers in the 1960s there appears to have been some overlap between the use of the prospector logo in the first intertwined sf logo which first appears on the 49ers helmets in 1962. by 1967 it appears that the prospector logo was all but phased out and the sf logo became the dominant representation of the team in 1996 a new version of the sf logo was released the lettering of this logo was slightly thicker though still in a familiar serif font the red color is darker and more muted and in between the red and black of the outer circle a muted gold strip is added finally in 2009 the logo was updated for a final time returning a more vibrant and saturated red color to the logo and brightening up the gold as well beginning in baltimore as the baltimore colts the cult's first logo was of a cult which is a term for a young male horse jumping over the goal posts of a football field his helmet flying back as he chases the football over with the words baltimore colts above and below over time and by 1961 they dropped the scene for just the image of the bucking cult the helmet is now more modern like the ones worn by the football team down to even depicting the horseshoe logo on the helmet in 1979 the horseshoe logo that was already on the team's helmet became the primary logo for the team they would keep that logo when they moved to indianapolis in 1984 and all the way through the turn of the century in 2002 the logo was updated for a final time introducing a darker and less saturated blue color on the same horseshoe shape the original buffalo bills logo dates back to when they began as a team in the afl the american football league the design was shaped like a football with the words buffalo bills across the top below that is a herd of buffaloes or american bison and football players huddled together the football player at the front is carrying a football in 1962 the logo was updated now not just a football shape but a full on football with a single buffalo on it in the background and in the foreground is a football player tucking a football with an updated jersey matching the buffalo bills jersey change that also occurred that season this was the first season that the red buffalo appeared on the side of the helmets as you can see depicted in the logo in 1970 the afl had merged with the nfl and the bills chose to make the red buffalo on their helmets their primary logo and in 1974 the logo was updated to the logo that the team now has today a blue buffalo charging forward with a streak of red flying by to give the logo that forward motion also a member of the afl the broncos began in 1960 with a logo of a football player riding a bucking horse or a bronco the football player is dressed in classic old-school style football gear with the leather helmet and b is stamped on the jersey standing for broncos in 1962 that logo was updated to feature a more modern looking football player riding atop his bronco holding the ball in one hand and the reigns in another 1968 was the first time that the d logo appeared on the helmets of the broncos this logo has an orange d shaded blue on the inside out of the blue rises a white bronco rearing on its hind legs snorting as it rears back this would be the main logo for the broncos for nearly 30 years but finally in 1997 after the success of their live mascot thunder an arabian horse the team announced a new logo as a horse's profile with an orange mane the color of the outline was a darker shade of blue than appeared on previous logos originally an afl team founded in dallas texas the kansas city chiefs original name was the dallas texans and their logo was that of a cowboy football in one hand and pistol in the other he's jumping in his boots in front of a red state of texas and on his shirt is the team name texans when the team moved to kansas city in 1963 becoming the chiefs a new logo of similar design was created texas was replaced with the regional states of kansas missouri nebraska iowa oklahoma and arkansas in front of the states is a drawing of a native american with a war bonnet or headdress still carrying a football as he runs pistol in the other hand is replaced with a hatchet he is depicted wearing only a loincloth the front of which reads kc this figure's left shoulder football is approximately the location of kansas city on the map behind him while this logo replaced the previous one and would stick around for a number of years it was a different logo that was created after the move that would prove to be the main icon of the kansas city chiefs created the very same year as the move the chief's other logo became an intertwined k and c in red atop a white arrowhead this logo was used on the team's helmets beginning in 1963 and would eventually become the logo the chiefs use up until today the los angeles chargers began in the afl in 1960 the logo that was shaped like a shield the top half of the shield features the head of a horse with l a on either side the rest of the shield is blue and gold color blocks with a bolt of lightning shooting across the center above the name chargers the design was retained when they moved to san diego in 1961 with a few changes the la is dropped from the shield obviously and the colors are changed to the lighter palette of powder blue in sunshine gold now since the beginning the arced lightning bolt has been an important logo for the team appearing on their helmets since day one in 1974 the team made the helmet with the arced lightning bolt their main logo this one a deeper blue and gold color with the helmet design flat and two-dimensional around 1985 the helmet logo is depicted more and more as a three-dimensional logo eventually fully replacing the previous helmet logo but through it all the arced lightning bolt remained a constant alternate logo and an important emblem on their helmet in 2002 the thunderbolt was made the main logo this one here depicted in white though the color of the bolt logo around this time often changed a bit to contrast with the team helmet in 2007 the chargers released a new logo this rendition of the bolt had the gold inside with a layer of that powder blue color between the bolt and a dark blue outline the powder blue was added back to the logo to incorporate the team's history in the previous use of that color in 2017 for a few days after announcing that the team would be moving back to los angeles the team also unveiled a new logo with an interlocking la thunderbolt both the color and design choices were not popular with fans and instantly drew comparisons to the logo of the los angeles dodgers trying to salvage the design the colors were changed quickly but the damage was already done a newly altered version of the bolt logo was announced within a few days this one featuring a new triad of shades for the bolt making it overall darker than the previous logo finally in 2020 a new redesign of the bolt logo was released of the logo a charger's press release said quote with the new bolt a sleeker more streamlined version of its old self as the team's primary mark it's also one color lighter gone is the three-toned bolt with a navy key line the new bolt has been paired down to only include powder blue and sunshine gold the new bolt ties the logo and colors to the history of the chargers bringing them forward to today in 1960 when the boston patriots began as a part of the afl their first logo used for only one season on their helmets was a tricorn hat the tricorn was a popular hat style during the time of the american revolution the three sides of the hat brim are turned up to create a triangular shape in 1961 a new logo was introduced featuring the team mascot pat patriot he is a minuteman a soldier of the american revolutionary war wearing a tricorn hat he has huddled over a football ready to snap the ball when the team moved to their new stadium in foxborough just in time for the 1971 season the pat patriot logo was updated to a cleaner drawing of the minuteman in 1979 the team was prepared to introduce a new logo featuring a minuteman in profile with red stripes coming off behind him a star is also featured on his hat unsure of how this logo would be received it was revealed at half time of a home game and the fans voted by applause to keep the old pat patriot logo but this logo may look vaguely familiar because in 1993 the team revealed a logo design that would go on to be called affectionately the flying elvis logo because of the resemblance to elvis presley in profile it is clear to see the inspiration and evolution of the logo design from 1979 to the one revealed in 1993. above the face is an elongated stylized and exaggerated tricorn shape that breaks into red stripes reminiscent of a flying flag the star also remains from the original 1979 logo as well finally in 2000 the patriots unveiled a final tweak to their logo design by darkening the colors of the blue to the nautical blue color that we have today originally named the titans of new york the new york jets first logo featured a football player running forward beside the word mark of the team name in 1963 when the team was renamed to the jets their logo was redesigned to a green airplane with the word jets inside of it in white that logo was only used for one season primarily on the team's helmets the next year in 1964 the jet logo was replaced with one of a white football shape the word jets lay on top of the letters in y for new york and at the bottom sits another football this design lasted only one year on the helmets but still appeared in print at least into the 1970s in 1965 an inverted color scheme of that football shape logo now mainly in green replaced the previous design then in 1978 a redesign took place with the new logo featuring the team named jets written in a blocky stylized font across the top extending off of the j is a triangular wing shape reminiscent of a rudder or winglet of a big old jet airliner in 1998 the jets unveiled a new logo it featured many of the design elements of the logos from the mid 60s and 70s shaped like a football but more rounded the logo is a much darker shade of green jets sits on top of the letters in y and below is an updated football design but finally after two decades the jets unveiled a new updated logo in 2019 with its brighter gotham green color it retains an updated football shape the words new york now spelt out above the word jets the updated football at the bottom sits on top of the e and t of jets the houston oilers have had a number of logos several of which overlapped their time of use one style is the football player in cowboy boots holding a football and standing in front of a scene of oil derricks which are a kind of drilling rig for oil production sometimes especially early on this character's hard hat was replaced with a cowboy hat on his chest is the team name oilers the second style that emerges in the late 1960s is the simplified man wearing an oilers helmet in profile on the helmet is an oil derrick often this logo is depicted in black and white but from day one an oil derrick had been on the side of the houston oilers helmets sometimes white sometimes red with blue trim or blue with red trim or simply in black the oil derrick is the main logo throughout the oilers years in houston this logo even made it into print early on in some game programs when the team was moved to tennessee and was eventually renamed the titans in 1999 a new logo was designed this logo features a t for titans enclosed in a circle with blue and red flames shooting off of it inside of the circle are three stars meant to look similar to the three stars at the center of the tennessee flag in both cases the stars represent the three grand divisions of tennessee east tennessee middle tennessee and west tennessee when the dallas cowboys began in 1960 their logo was a simple blue star in the team's colors the star was chosen for well texas reasons texas's nickname is the lone star state and features a single star on its flag in 1964 the logo was altered slightly a thin blue outline was put around the star creating a white negative space this logo has remained unchanged ever since and is at the center of the most valuable brand in all of sports the minnesota vikings original logo from 1961 looks an awful lot like their current logo almost identical this logo wasn't colored the way that it is now until at least 1965 with most depictions of it earlier on being the same drawing but shown monochromatic such as on the front of this annual press guide from the early 1960s in 2013 the logo received a slight modernization the gold colored hair of the vikings and his helmet are slightly brighter as is the purple ring holding on the viking horns the line weight used to draw the logo is a bit heavier and more defining in parts while other parts such as the horns are simplified slightly with less detail in 1960 the raiders first logo was the now familiar pirate face with an eye patch wearing an old-school football helmet that face was placed on a football and behind the football are two cutlass swords the cutlass was made infamous for their use by pirates and the overall design is made to be reminiscent of the pirate skull and crossbones flag called the jolly roger here you can see it compared to the jolly roger that was said to have been flown by the pirate richard worley in 1963 the design was updated to use a shield on which the words the oakland raiders is placed on top the football is removed and the raiders jolly roger inspired logo is placed on the bottom of the shield the cutlasses extend beyond the edges of the shield finally in 1964 the logo was updated for a final time the pirate now taking up the majority of the now fully black shield the pirate's helmet is replaced with one matching the colors of the helmet that the raiders actually wear on the field the wording is simplified to simply raiders and the cutlasses are shortened to be contained within the bounds of the shield the raiders would retain this logo after moving from oakland to los angeles then back to oakland and now finally in las vegas as the las vegas raiders beginning in the nfl in 1966 the atlanta falcons original logo was a stylized flying falcon with talons outstretched the bird is colored all in black with a white outline for contrast they kept this logo through the end of the century often a thin outline of black or red was used to make the logo pop out especially on the shoulders of the falcons uniforms in 2003 the logo was redesigned this new design was a more modern but still heavily stylized logo of a falcon and it takes most of the design from the original logo just updating it a gray outline is added around the logo and to give detail red is added to the interior of the falcon accentuating the unseen feathers and bringing color to the logo for the first time the beak is also highlighted and the mouth is closed differentiating it from the previous logo the original logo for the miami dolphins from 1966 featured an aqua colored dolphin wearing a helmet with an m for miami the dolphin is jumping up in front of a sunburst design an image which you may be lucky enough to see for yourself if you happen to be at a beach in miami but frankly i don't know how you get the helmet on the dolphin in 1974 the logo was updated slightly centering the dolphin in the middle of the sunburst now overlapping the background on top and bottom for the start of the 1990 season a small adjustment was made to the logo design the colors were all darkened using slightly greener aqua for the dolphin and a darker more saturated orange for the sunburst and the features on the helmet the logo was updated once more in 1997. the sunburst is simplified and even darker than before the dolphin was changed from the realistic sketch to a meaner looking cartoon depiction of a dolphin now no longer monochromatic the dolphin features aqua with dark blue and white accents to give depth and detail in 2013 the logo underwent a major redesign the colors changed to be more evocative of the original logo with a brighter orange the sunburst is simplified still but adds more detail with differing lengths of sun rays the dolphin on the other hand is wholly redesigned now depicted as if it's swimming or just breaking above the surface it still utilizes the aqua dark blue and white colors to create a more realistic yet stylized depiction of a dolphin finally in 2018 the logo underwent a very slight change the orange was changed back to the more vibrant orange of the 1990s while keeping the dolphin on the logo the same starting in 1967 the new orleans saints logo has always been a fleur-de-lis a symbol of the city of new orleans and with historic roots to the french royalty this is because new orleans was founded by the french in the early 1700s the florida lee is a lily flower and can also be seen on the city flag of new orleans the saints logo only really varies in the use of color the original black with the thin outer line was replaced on the helmets in 2000 with one that features a slim line of the color old gold off of the helmets however the logo is usually depicted with its colors almost inverted the old gold fleur-de-lis with black outlines surrounding it the first logo for the bengals in 1968 was a crouching tiger running with a football under its arm a helmet flying off behind it the tiger logo fits with the team name as the tiger is a bengal tiger they kept that logo for the two seasons that they played in the afl before the afl nfl murder in 1970 their logo was changed to an orange helmet with the word bengals across the side this mirrored their helmets that they wore on the field in 1981 the logo was changed to match the change in helmet design on the field doing away with the letter block helmet logo the new helmets were designed with the bengal tiger stripe pattern the new helmet logo progressed a couple of times through the 1980s and early 90s often taking a more and more three-dimensional shape in 1997 a new logo was created which featured a pouncing bengal tiger in front of the cincinnati bengals word mark during this period the tiger itself was often used as the logo or even simply the tiger's head but finally in 2004 the bengals unveiled a new logo design this is the logo that we know today with a b for bangles and the bengal stripe pattern of three black stripes running down it the original buccaneers logo dates back to the team's beginnings in 1976 when it was designed by tampa tribune cartoonist lamar sparkman it features a pirate or a buccaneer with a plume hat a dagger between his teeth winking seductively the team was looking for a way to differentiate themselves from the raiders the other pirate themed franchise the chairman of the advisory committee james mcewen said at the time quote i think what we wanted was a sort of high-class cutthroat they were essentially wanting an image moroccan to robin hood they retained that charming swashbuckler named bucco bruce until 1997 where he was replaced with a logo of a flag being hoisted by a cutlass that same infamous pirate sword style from the raiders logo on the buccaneers new flag is a proper jolly roger this jolly roger sitting on a field of red features a skull above two crossed cutlasses with a football under its chin in 2014 the logo was updated removing some of the detail lines on the flag and brightening up the logo the jolly roger was replaced with a wholly new design but still keeping the sword's skull and football in the same arrangement finally in 2020 the logo underwent a final design the colors were darkened to match the changes in the team's uniforms giving us the logo we know today in 1976 the seattle seahawks unveiled their first team logo the head of a seahawk the style is meant to be evocative of the art style of the indigenous peoples of the area stretching north all the way through british columbia the design was updated in 2002 retaining a lot of the same style elements the new logo has a forward motion to it created by the additional angles the seahawk looks a bit more fierce the colors were selected as a part of an overhaul of the team's branding as they moved into their new stadium in 2012 the colors were refreshed again creating the logo that we know today in 1995 the carolina panthers joined the nfl the logo that joined with them is one of a panther all in black roaring with its mouth open it is outlined by the team's blue color the shape that the panther takes was designed to resemble the combined borders of north and south carolina now i know what you're thinking does that seem accurate luckily here's the two side by side what do you think i'm not really seeing it anyway in 2012 the team released a modernized version of the original logo the shapes are more defined with the blue color working to highlight the deep color of the fur of the panther the very first jacksonville jaguar logo dates back to when the team was first announced in 1993 two years before they would join the nfl for the 1995 season the logo was of a running jaguar fully outstretched as if pouncing forward onto its prey while the team loved the logo almost immediately there was legal pressure due to the similarity of this logo to jaguar automotives also one of a leaping jaguar eventually an agreement was reached jaguar automotive would be the official car of the team and the team would create a new logo that new logo was revealed in 1995 and featured the stylized head of a jaguar the tongue is colored in the team's teal color finally in 2013 the logo was redesigned this version of the logo features a slightly updated teal color now also seen in the eye and the snout this more detailed jaguar was designed to be more fierce and bold than the previous logo jaguar jaguar jaguar save the comment on to the next one when the ravens were originally designed in a logo for their first season in 1996 they decided to go with a shield design a large purple bee on the golden front of the shield under the word ravens at the bottom is a shape called across buttony one of the many cross designs used in traditional heraldry heraldry was the practice in the middle ages of creating shield designs and coats of arms and it played an important part of telling others that you were a very important person in the medieval times behind the shield rises the raven's wings controversially this design appears to have been created by an artist in baltimore that had faxed the team this exact design and was never credited for it losing a court battle the team in conjunction with the baltimore sun newspaper had fans vote on three new logos a raven in profile a raven facing forward and a new heraldic shield that utilized the bnr of baltimore ravens and the design elements of the maryland state flag the raven in profile was selected the winner and the other two logos especially the shield have remained in use as secondary and tertiary logo designs [Music] and finally the texans are the most recent team to join the nfl in 2002 and their logo is a bull's head leaning forward to put its horns out fiercely the colors of blue white and red were chosen to mirror the colors and design of the texas state flag the lone star serves as the eye of the bull mirroring the flag and paying tribute to the state nickname of texas the lone star state and that does it for the design of every logo in the nfl whenever the next logo change happens in the future have no fear i will return promptly with an update but until that time don't forget to like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on the next video see you next time and thanks for watching [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Justin Learns Things

Views: 1,412

Keywords: NFL, Team, history, names, logos, design, football

Id: hXRGcSbHN5M

Length: 57min 56sec (3476 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 09 2022