Could the Chiefs have alternate helmets in the future? It’s an ‘open discussion’

Back in June of 2021, the NFL approved the return of alternate helmets for the 2022 season. In response, 10 teams unveiled new, alternate helmets this year — and four teams will be selectively wearing throwback helmets.

On Monday morning, the league tweeted out a rundown of the new (and retro) helmets from its official Twitter account.

So, will Kansas City ever take advantage?

Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan was asked just that in his training camp introductory press conference at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.

“‘Honor tradition’ is one of our core, fundamental values, right?” started Donovan, referring to what the team has previously described as the four pillars of the Chiefs’ mission. “But I go back to that balance point of — if you look, more and more and especially this season — it just seems like with all the black helmets coming out and all the alternative uniforms that are out there, I don’t want to create hope where there isn’t hope.

“But I will say this: there’s an open discussion. There’s definitely more of a consideration than there has ever been. We’ve had some good conversations about the opportunity. But — as you can imagine — I think we’re the only team? We might be one of a small group that has never changed — when I say never changed, we’ve changed a little bit on the stripe or something like that because of the uniform change.”

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The Hunt family has historically been hesitant to adopt a new uniform look, though there have been some variations to the classic look, such as red jerseys with red pants — or white jerseys with white pants. The Chiefs paid tribute to their franchise’s first name with throwback “Dallas Texans” uniforms when they played the Cowboys during the 2009 regular season.

Donovan gave the impression that he — at least — would like to see it happen.

“I’ve been here 14 seasons now. In the first couple of years — I came from Philadelphia, where we did that pretty successfully — and I was really excited about that. After the first meeting talking about that (in Kansas City), I didn’t bring it up again for a couple of years.”

That drew a collective laugh from the reporters covering the press conference.

“But a couple of our teammates on our side kept pushing me. We’ve opened the discussion again — and we’ll see. It’s definitely something we’ll continue to discuss.”

Here are the rules on alternate helmets provided by the league (via NFL.com)

• Clubs must obtain an entire new set of alternate color helmets for all players
• Alternate color helmets must be the same make, model and size as the applicable player’s primary helmet
• Alternate color helmets must be made available to all players at the start of training camp and should be fit at the same time as the primary helmet
• Alternate color helmets must be worn in practice at a minimum during the week leading up to the game in which they will be used