It’s not for lack of effort. While the Eagles haven’t worn kelly green as their primary uniform since they switched to midnight green in the mid-90s, owner Jeff Lurie has been on a mission to bring back kelly green jerseys as an alternate. It’s a mission many Eagles fans and even players support.
The basic reason is an NFL rule that allows just one helmet per player for safety and quality control reasons. It’s an antiquated rule but it’s the main holdup for the Eagles. The Eagles’ helmets are midnight green and Lurie doesn’t want midnight green helmets and kelly green jerseys.
To make it look really right, you should have matching helmets, Lurie said once said. The Eagles even went as far as to propose a rule change during the 2017 offseason. But they withdrew the proposal before owners could vote on it because of advice from the NFL’s competition committee. It wasn’t going to pass.
During those owners meetings, competition committee chairman Rich McKay told me he was hopeful that the rule would eventually get changed. A possible workaround would be for the Eagles to use decals on their existing helmets like some other teams, but Lurie doesn’t like that idea. For him, it’s kelly green helmet or bust.
We want a kelly green helmet to go with the kelly green jerseys, he said. So, for now, the Eagles wait. And they’ll have to wait at least one more year. But there’s some hope for the 2021 season.
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