National Football League

Browns unveil white helmets for first time in 70 years

Published Jul. 18, 2023 4:45 p.m. ET

The Cleveland Browns are shelving those classic logo-less orange helmets for three games this season.

With a nod to their storied past, the Browns will wear white helmets for the first time since 1951.

Cleveland will break out a retro, all-white look — white helmets, jerseys, and pants — Week 2 (Sept. 18) in Pittsburgh, at home in Week 6 (Oct. 15) against San Francisco and again in Week 17 (Dec. 28) against the New York Jets in the regular-season home finale.

The new helmets include an orange and brown stripe down the middle.

The Browns wore plain white helmets during their first six seasons in the NFL — they merged from the All-America Football Conference in 1950 — before switching to the orange shell for the 1952 season.

"We’re super fired up and really excited to have this opportunity to wear an alternate helmet," said executive vice president JW Johnson. "We decided to go with the white helmet for a couple reasons — it harkens back to our past, and a lot of our greatest players wore white helmets. We also heard from our fans that it was the direction they wanted."

Last year, the NFL began allowing teams to wear an alternate helmet.

The Browns won four straight AAFC championships before joining the NFL in 1950 and winning a title in their first year with a roster that included Hall of Famers Otto Graham, Marion Motley, Lou Groza, Bill Willis, Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli.

Cleveland's orange helmet, which is the only one in the league without a logo, has long been a topic of debate among Browns fans. Some love it, while others have longed for the team to make a dramatic change.

The team recently unveiled a new logo for the Dawg Pound — the team's notorious bleacher section — that was voted on by fans.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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