Rams release new uniforms, recalling their L.A. roots

The Rams' new uniforms are displayed in lockers.

July 13, 2021 7 AM PT

The best moment in Rams franchise history came in January 2000 in the Georgia Dome. You probably remember it for the image of Tennessee receiver Kevin Dyson falling, arm outstretched, a yard short of the goal line as time expired, handing the Rams their only Super Bowl title. That night, their uniforms were white, with yellow trim, blue accents, blue numbers and yellow pants.

This coming season, they’ll don new throwback uniforms modeled after that look — one the Rams wore for more than 20 years, spanning Jack Youngblood to Kurt Warner.

“First thing I said after I saw the uniforms was, I saw the uniforms had championship written all over it,” said Torry Holt, a receiver on the Super Bowl team and a seven-time Pro Bowl selection with the Rams. “I think that’s the expectations for the Rams and I think these uniforms certainly signify that as well.”

Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said the team can wear the uniforms three times, and has plans to do so for the opener against the Chicago Bears as well as Week 7’s Super Bowl XXXIV rematch against the Titans. The Week 10 game at San Francisco on Monday Night Football is a likely candidate.

It’s the third of four jerseys the Rams will eventually release — the two they wore last year, plus one that will come in 2022 or 2023 — and like the others, purposefully harkens to the franchise’s Los Angeles roots. The team got input from fans and alumni in addition to its own internal decision-makers, but there wasn’t much agony over the decision.

“We had a white uniform mocked up last year, as we went into the process,” Demoff said. “... Once we talked to alumni and fans, we had an idea that we’d head towards white.”

For Holt, a self-described history buff, the jersey conjures memories of a Super Bowl triumph, but also a Rams era well before his own.

“I go back to Deacon Jones and Tom Mack and all those guys I got an opportunity to hang out with, Rosey Grier, and talk to,” Holt said. “And I just think about those, remember the wool white jerseys that they wore with the big blue (number) 75. And all you saw was the big white shirt and the big blue numbers and you saw the blue helmet with the white wrapping horns, that’s what it takes me to.”

In addition to its throwback color scheme, the uniform also features horns on the sleeves, as well as a ram head on the back-neck tag and the Rams wordmark on the front jersey patch.

“Say I’m a wide receiver and I’m in my stance. You’re getting a straight ahead photo of me, you see the horns on the helmet, but you also see the horns on the sleeves,” Holt said. “The average fan may not get that, may not pay attention to that, may not even care. Hell, even the average player may not care about that, but as someone that’s into details and the uniqueness of our uniforms and our colors and the horns, it’s good to see the horns being represented anywhere on the jerseys.”