The Detroit Lions uniform reveal went without a hitch on Thursday night. Though not everyone was thrilled with the changes, that were overall relatively minor. However, the general reaction was somewhat positive, and Detroit avoided a Los Angeles Chargers-like situation where they were mocked incessantly to the point that they ditched their new logo.
Nowhere are reactions more emotional and polarized than online. In the moments of the release, plenty of fans, players and analysts across the league shared their feelings on the new uniforms. Here’s a sampling of those reactions.
Pride Of Detroit
The folks on this fine site were mostly excited about the changes. As of late Thursday night, 33 percent of fans “loved” the uniforms, 33 percent liked them, while on 12 percent didn’t like them or hated them.
As for which of the outfits Pride Of Detroit liked best, surprisingly the Color Rush jerseys came in first place with 41 percent of the vote. The white jersey/blue pants combo of the away uniforms came in second with 33 percent of the vote. While the throwbacks and home uniforms trailed considerably, with 15 and 12 percent of the vote respectively.
The Players
No one seems to be more excited about these kind of events than the players. Here is a sampling of reaction from the Lions after the release, which mostly included flame emojis:
New Uniforms sickkkkkk! @Lions I need one!
— Quandre Diggs (@qdiggs6) April 14, 2017
— Sam (@SamMartin_6) April 14, 2017
These new uniforms tho!!
— Ashawn Robinson (@AshawnRobinson) April 14, 2017
Yo??? Do I see that Detroit got new unis??? Yes I do, I do, I do ooooooohhh!!! That's Kel's voice for you youngstas lol.
— Cornelius Washington (@CornWash) April 14, 2017
Hey, even former Lions cornerback Dre Bly likes them:
Let's go @Lions !!!! Great Look!!! #GoLions pic.twitter.com/fPdShEsrL6
— Dré Bly (TarHeel) (@drebly_32) April 14, 2017
The Haters
When a team like the Lions steals the spotlight in the offseason, it’s bound to cause some jealousy across the league. Enter: Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix:
Uniforms don't mean shii.
— Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (@haha_cd6) April 14, 2017
And because he couldn’t resist, former Lions linebacker and—sigh—Super Bowl winner Kyle Van Noy had to pile on as well:
Talk to em! Ha https://t.co/W09uOzUT3I
— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) April 14, 2017
Of course, that got the attention of a few Lions players, who retaliated (in fun):
@KVN_03 Lol hope they don't have u guarding me week 3 of pre season.
— Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) April 14, 2017
@KVN_03 Damn Kyle it's like that.... win a super bowl an u change I knew u was fake
— Darius Slay (@_bigplayslay23) April 14, 2017
The national media
We know local fans and media are going to tend to lie heavily on the positive side of the spectrum, so what did the national media say? Even they were mostly impressed:
Throwbacks > https://t.co/hFqpQwyIaa
— Chris Burke (@ChrisBurke_SI) April 14, 2017
New @Lions uniforms: William Clay Ford tribute actually on uniform (instead of patch) is outstanding pic.twitter.com/YDIvfGksDU
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 14, 2017
Thank everything the @Lions removed black from their color palette just never worked pic.twitter.com/U5dxekBevZ
— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) April 14, 2017
However, a few media outlets—including our mothership SB Nation—teased the Lions for making new uniforms without any major changes:
Detroit Lions unveil new uniforms very similar to current uniforms: https://t.co/mC5sHQZYFt pic.twitter.com/6yqSprZRFz
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) April 14, 2017
The Lions have new uniforms.
— SB Nation (@SBNation) April 14, 2017
[squints]
maybe. https://t.co/KVUCE4byVO pic.twitter.com/rf9kGVDz8o
Still, overall this event has been widely praised as another success for team president Rod Wood and the Lions organization.
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