Could Return Of Patriots’ Throwbacks Be Delayed By Supply Chain Issue?

Thanks to a long-awaited NFL rule change, a handful of teams will be able to reintroduce their beloved throwback uniforms for the 2022 season. But at least one will need to wait until 2023.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday announced they are reviving the awesomely ugly creamsicle uniforms they sported from 1976 through 1996, but that they won’t be ready in time for the upcoming season.

“Due to global supply chain challenges, we will have to wait one more year than hoped,” Buccaneers senior writer Scott Smith wrote in a post on the team’s official website. “This is the earliest that Nike can finish production of the orange uniforms.”

New England Patriots fans have eagerly awaited the return of their team’s red “Pat Patriot” throwbacks, which, like Tampa’s Creamsicles, were mothballed in 2013 when the NFL implemented a rule limiting each club to one helmet per season. That rule was repealed last year, and though the Patriots have yet to announce an official red jersey return, they said in 2020 that they “hope to incorporate that into our uniform rotation in the future.”

But if they hit the same roadblock as the Bucs — Nike is the official uniform supplier for all NFL teams, so that’s possible — fans might need to wait another year before they see Mac Jones and company take the field in these beauties:

The Patriots have gone without an alternate jersey since they debuted their current, rather bland uniform set in 2020.