The Rams are starting a new era with a look that's never been seen before in the NFL.
Back in Los Angeles since 2016, the Rams will move into their long-awaited new home, SoFi Stadium, this season and are bringing a fresh look with them. Los Angeles introduced its new uniforms Wednesday, which included an off-white shade used by an NFL team for the first time ever.
The name of the shade is "bone", an off-white tone that includes a little more gray than standard white. Like an aged page in a cherished paperback, this color evokes feelings of history. The Rams also say it should remind fans of the actual color of a ram horn and of the sandy beaches of Los Angeles.
At least one Ram loves the new shade:
2020 is the Year of the Gradient, it seems, as the Rams became the second team to unveil a new uniform set featuring a colored gradient as a prominent element. Los Angeles' implementation is in the team's numbers on the home uniform, which blend from white at the bottom to yellow at the top in a nod to the team's dalliance with both colors as a complement to the ever-present blue during its lengthy history in Southern California. The same gradient effect exists on the royal blue pants stripe, but in reverse order, transitioning from yellow at the bottom to white at the top. The road uniform does not include a gradient in the numbers, as they appear a solid blue on the bone white jerseys.
The numbers themselves are united with the team's new primary logo which features the evolved horn, with the numbers taking on the similar curvature within them.
The team has three pants options: royal, yellow and bone, with royal and yellow available to pair with the home jersey and presumably bone reserved just for the road set. In an interesting approach to a difficult part of uniform design, the pants have differing stripes. The royal pants feature the aforementioned gradient stripe, while the yellow pants have a thick royal stripe flanked by a thin white stripe only on one side. The bone pants are the most interesting, as they include a thick white stripe (not off-white) flanked by a thin yellow stripe, again only on one side.
The same use of white on off-white can be seen in the team's implementation of a white jersey patch, which displays the team's full name (in a wordmark released earlier in the offseason) on the left chest of the bone jersey. The home royal top features a patch as well, but just reads "RAMS".
In a uniform packed with key details, there will also be reflective elements in the team's numbers and pants stripes. It will be interesting to see how those elements play on television and at different times of the day and night. A neck tag on the back displays the team's new primary monogram L.A. logo, while the team's new Ram head logo is on the inside of the tag. Also an intriguing difference: The bone jersey includes royal TV numbers on the horn-capped sleeves, while the royal jersey does not, allowing the yellow horn to stand on its own.
The evolved horn is incredibly sharp on the team's new helmet, which features vibrant royal and yellow colors and a metallic finish that grabs the eye. When paired with the all-royal set, the yellow and white elements pop in a way that pleases the viewer. It is undoubtedly the best -- and most important -- element of the entire uniform.