Detroit Lions unveil new alternate helmets for 2023 season

After spending the week teasing it on social media with some fun and cryptic posts, the Detroit Lions officially unveiled their new alternate helmets on Wednesday.

The new helmet veers from the team's typical silver helmets and instead opts for another one of its staple colors, Honolulu Blue. The helmet, designed to commemorate the team's 90th anniversary, also features the walking lion logo used from 1946-69.

In a subsequent tweet, the team explained that main blue in the helmet has never been used before in the NFL and that the helmets will be worn when the team wears their all-gray alternate uniforms on Oct. 30 against the Raiders and in the final regular season game against the Vikings.

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In a teaser video posted Wednesday morning of some team members getting a sneak peek, Lions coach Dan Campbell said "I like it. That's going to be pretty sharp," while wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said "Oooh, this is nice," and defensive end Aidan Hutchinson added, "This thing is sweet."

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The first signs of the new helmet being revealed this week came in a photo tweeted out by the team on Monday with a license plate on a blue Mustang simply saying "ALT HMT" and a bumper sticker that said June 21.

Then on Tuesday, the Lions backed the same blue Mustang into the camera frame with a caption saying "tomorrow."

It was reported back in February that the team would not be getting new uniforms in 2023, but would be adding a new helmet to the mix.

Last year, 13 NFL teams took advantage of the NFL's rule changes and wore alternate helmets, but the Lions were not one of them. For now, alternate helmets can be worn only with alternate uniforms, which for the Lions are their gray jerseys and pants.

Teams in the NFL are only allowed to change jerseys every five years and the alternate helmets have to include a logo from some point in the team's history.

It's been a while since the Lions unveiled new uniforms and it appears they could be on the docket, just not this year. The Lions last unveiled new home, away, Color Rush and throwback uniforms in 2017, and president Rod Wood told the Free Press in February they are talking with Nike about coming out with some new jerseys for 2024.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions new helmet: Team reveals alternate for 2023 season