XFL uniforms: Ranking the best, worst jerseys for 2023 football relaunch, from Vipers to Guardians

By | February 16, 2023
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The NFL season is over, but the XFL is just getting started. Spring football is back, and the XFL’s latest relaunch with Dwayne Johnson at the helm is hoping to fill the void for football fans.

The relaunch brought back some familiar identities from the XFL’s last go-around, but there are some fresh looks among the eight teams. Even some of the returning franchises have overhauled their on-field identities. 

Some uniform sets are pretty impressive, while others leave something to be desired. 

MORE: XFL rosters 2023: Complete draft results, team-by-team picks for new football league

Let’s take a look at all eight XFL uniforms for 2023, ranking them from best to worst.

XFL uniforms 2023

1. Vegas Vipers

The Vipers nailed their look heading into 2023. The all-black combination is the best in the league, with a black helmet, black jersey, and black pants. The bright red contrasts the black very well, and the gray accent color ties it all together.

Even better: The numbers on the white jerseys have a scaled pattern to reflect the Vipers nickname. The font is also the best in the XFL, matching the snake-themed look rather than looking like a traditional font someone found on the internet.

The Vipers’ entire look is more than clean. Vegas will be the best dressed team as the XFL relaunches.

2. San Antonio Brahmas

The XFL did a nice job with a color scheme that could’ve been easy to mess up. The stripes on the shoulders are large and distracting, but this is otherwise an impressive set.

Attention to detail is what makes these stand out. The color has a unique pattern, and there’s an underlying pattern on the numbers of both jerseys.

The white numbers on the dark gray jersey look strong. The Brahmas didn’t overuse yellow on those uniforms, which is helpful. Time will tell if the yellow jerseys will look too yellow in the sun, but from what we can see so far, they got this look right.

3. Houston Roughnecks

The Renegades look more like the Houston Oilers than the team from Houston with an oil rig for a logo, but that’s perfectly fine. The Renegades have a nice look heading into 2023.

The gradient, if you can call it that, on the numbers of the jersey looks pretty clean both on the front and up on the shoulder pads. The addition of white up by the neck and shoulder pads upgrades what could’ve been a more plain navy blue jersey.

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The helmets are noisy. It feels like the Roughnecks could’ve gone with a cleaner helmet to finish off the look, rather than a half-red, half-white design. That’s all that drops this uniform set down for me.

4. St. Louis Battlehawks

This one was challenging to evaluate. Plain is not a bad thing. The Battlehawks have a pretty simple look, though the numbers do have a modern appearance. The stripes near the shoulder aren’t nearly as large as some other uniform sets, and the royal blue is always a crowd pleaser.

One can understand how it’s easy to be bored by this look, especially since it looks very similar to St. Louis University’s color scheme. The gray helmets and an all-gray jersey rather than traditional white help make this look unique. A pretty nice set all-around by the Battlehawks. 

5. Arlington Renegades

Part of me feels like the Renegades are trying to do too much here. At the same time, to look for XFL teams to have classic looks like the 49ers or Packers. They need an identity, and at least Arlington has that.

The Renegades look like the Houston Oilers with baby blue and bright red in the mix. The baby blue jerseys are solid, with the only issue being the navy blue looks more like black in the sun. The modern font is a winner, and the red line down the middle of the jersey numbers is a good look.

But one can’t say the same for the white jersey. The red line down the middle of a baby blue number is too distracting and makes the entire number look pink from afar. The color scheme is strong and looks nice up by the collar of the white jersey, but one could argue the Renegades are using it as best they could.

6. Seattle Sea Dragons

Seattle teams always have an advantage in the uniform department between the Mariners, Seahawks, and Kraken, but the Sea Dragons went a different route and rolled with plenty of orange and green. That could’ve been a disaster. Luckily, I don’t think it is.

The Sea Dragons’ white jerseys are strong, with a nice pattern up by the shoulders and navy blue numbers that feature green as an accent color. I’m not sure an orange and green helmet fits a jersey that mostly features blue, especially since the pants are an even brighter shade of orange, but it does look much better with the Sea Dragons’ orange jerseys.

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Luckily, Seattle didn’t force the orange and green to clash too much and went with white numbers on the orange set. This isn’t a perfect look, but it’s certainly passable.

7. DC Defenders

The Defenders’ jerseys are mostly on the plain side. Plain isn’t necessarily bad, but this isn’t a uniform set to get excited about. The best aspect is by far the helmet. The Defenders could’ve gone with a traditional white helmet but instead went with white-camouflage. That’s a solid nod to their nickname.

It’s worth noting the jersey numbers do have a silver gradient at the center, and there are stars on the shoulders to liven up the look. Nothing special, particularly with a common shade of red essentially their only color, but far from awful.

8. Orlando Guardians

Green as a primary color? Good. But neon green as the secondary color, too? It leaves a lot to be desired. One can arguably see what the Guardians are going for here. Green makes sense as a Florida color, but their name doesn’t have anything to do with alligators or crocodiles. 

Beyond that, the font isn’t anything special, the shoulder stripes are way too large, and the white jerseys look too much like practice jerseys. The Guardians won’t win any style points in 2023.

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