The 2021 NFL season is here -- and so is this gallery of must-see concept designs for the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and more.
The helmets you’ll find here are the latest creations from 247Sports designer Ted Hyman. The designs for all 32 NFL teams were originally published in 2021 on Hyman’s Instagram page, @tedhymanimages.
Occasionally, we'll offer up a side-by-side comparison of a team's actual helmet and the concept design. How true is the new one to the original? How much cooler is it than the original? You be the judge.
Are you ready for some dazzling NFL concept helmets? We know you are. Enjoy.
This is basically a "blackout" design. The Cardinals' predominantly white helmet has been recast in black.
Another innovation: the patterned stripe down the middle. It's there "to add a little [S]outhwest touch," Ted Hyman wrote on Instagram.
This concept helmet fires up the flame motif from the Titans' real dome.
The flame-red facemask kicks things up another notch -- or three.
This concept helmet for the Colts goes big and bold. In fact, it's one of the biggest and boldest domes in this collection.
The Colts' white helmet is remade in blue. The famous horseshoe logo is replaced by a thick, capital "C" that, as an added bonus, features the outline of the state of Indiana.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison. On the left is the Colts’ classic helmet as worn by Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLI. On the right is Ted Hyman’s concept design.
Which one do you like better? (Don’t worry: Peyton won’t take your rejection personally. We think.)
Here, the Lions' silver-and-blue helmet becomes a blue-and-silver dome. And, yes, the concept helmet also features a new-look logo.
"Went with a dark [gray] lion that I think looks pretty fierce," Ted Hyman wrote on Instagram.
The Ravens usually make the scene in basic black. This concept helmet makes gold the primary color. And that's not all.
As Ted Hyman revealed on Instagram, there's a "sublimated Maryland flag pattern in the design." Can you see it?
"I think a yellow helmet would really pop for the #LARams," Ted Hyman wrote on Instagram. He's right.
The Rams' real helmet is the inverse of this: It's mostly blue with yellow horns.
On the left is the Rams' current helmet as modeled by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Aaron Donald. On the right is the concept design by Ted Hyman. Awesome redo, yes?
The Rams, by the by, were the first NFL team to sport a helmet logo.
Here, the Jags' usual black helmet becomes a dome of mostly gold, with a wide band of blue across the top.
On Instagram, Ted Hyman wrote that his creation was inspired by a Jaguars prototype helmet.
The Falcons wore primarily red helmets for decades. They could wear one again if they adopted this look.
This Falcons concept helmet makes crimson the main color, while assigning black to a backup role. The bird logo has been tweaked -- and made to look cooler than ever.
Can you see Tom Brady in Tampa Bay's so-called "creamsicle" orange of yore? Don't laugh.
It might look pretty cool. Besides, the Bucs' skull logo has never looked meaner than it does here.
OK, now can you imagine Tom Brady in “creamsicle” orange?
On the left is Brady in the team’s current helmet of pewter. On the right is the Ted Hyman redo -- or, the Ted Hyman upgrade, if you prefer.
On the field, the Panthers need a fresh start. They get one right here with this concept helmet.
A satiny blue becomes the helmet's main color. The panther logo, meanwhile, is bigger and badder-looking than ever.
Everybody knows the Bengals don't have a helmet logo. But somebody forgot to tell this dome.
This Ted Hyman design plants a big "B" amid the helmet's traditional field of stripes.
Ted Hyman's Houston Texans concept helmet dispenses with the team's signature bull-head logo -- and makes the helmet itself the bull head. It achieves the effect by placing a single horn on either side of the dome, à la the Los Angeles Rams.
The colors have been switched up, too: Red replaces blue as the helmet's primary hue. And the star from the bull-head logo moves to the front of the dome.
Here, you can see for yourself what a radical departure Ted Hyman's Houston Texans concept helmet is.
On the left is offensive tackle Charlie Heck in the the team's classic game-day helmet. On the right is the reimagined dome.
Here, powder blue replaces white as the primary helmet color of the Chargers.
The bolt insignia is amped up -- it's thicker and with more accents. All in all, if the Chargers put together a season as solid as this helmet looks, they'd be good.
This concept helmet proudly sports a "D" (for Denver, natch). In that way, the design is a throwback to the helmet worn by the Broncos from the 1960s-1990s.
The Broncos introduced their current helmet (with the "D"-less horse logo) before the 1997 NFL season.
Here, you can see a likely source of inspiration for Ted Hyman’s bold Broncos helmet design.
That’s John Elway on the left in a classic Denver dome from a 1988 NFL game.
Red and blue are the dominant colors on this concept design for the Bills.
The real Bills helmet is primarily white, with a blue-and-red buffalo logo.
The Jets are definitely not the same old Jets in this helmet. On Instagram, Ted Hyman called this a "fighter pilot helmet concept."
"I really think this would be a cool look for the Jets," Hyman wrote. He's not wrong.
Here’s a side-by-side look at Jets helmets: the current and could-be versions.
On the left is the game-day dome as modeled by quarterback Joe Flacco. On the right is Ted Hyman’s high-flying, fighter-jet version.
Does the horn on this Vikings concept helmet look a lot like the one on the team's real helmet? It should.
On Instagram, Ted Hyman wrote that the team's logo is "pretty much perfect," so he focused his effort on adding a pattern to the helmet's purple background, and amplifying the yellow accents.
This helmet design for the Saints is black, gold -- and awesome.
Wrote one commenter on Ted Hyman's Instagram page, "AMAZING!!! Not a Saints fan, but could be after seeing this!!"
If the Washington franchise is looking for new or alternate designs, then Ted Hyman's creation is here to offer inspiration.
This clean, uncluttered, predominantly gold helmet is on the money.
As you can see, Washington’s current helmet (pictured, on the left) is clean and uncluttered, too.
Both designs -- the real one, and Ted Hyman’s reimagined one -- allow No. 99, aka Chase Young, to be the real star on the field.
This concept helmet is one that Seattle fans of both the Steve Largent and Russell Wilson eras can appreciate.
"...I blended [the Seahawks'] current colors with their old school ones and thought it came out looking really cool," Ted Hyman wrote on Instagram.
This concept helmet makes brown the undisputed star of the Browns' helmet. Unless, that is, you count the orange.
And, actually, we count the orange. The accent color pops, especially on the facemask.
Here's another side-by-side comparison. On the left is the real Browns helmet, as worn by quarterback Baker Mayfield. On the right is the team concept helmet, as designed by Ted Hyman.
Though the real Browns helmet is very orange, the touches of orange in Hyman's version arguably make a bigger visual impact.
This concept dome is for fans who like a good read along with their pigskin action. Here, the Giants are not merely the New York Giants; they are the New York Football Giants -- as Giants ownership intended.
Fun fact: New York Football Giants has been the formal, corporate name of the franchise since the 1930s.
This concept helmet, as Ted Hyman noted on Instagram, is a mashup of old-school and new-school elements.
The helmet-clad cartoon dolphin is a nod to a logo from the team's past. The metallic-orange facemask and center stripe, meanwhile, are cool-looking innovations.
Here’s a chance to really see how Ted Hyman’s design riffed -- and arguably improved -- on the Dolphins’ current helmet.
On the left is quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at a Spring 2021 minicap, and on the right, of course, is the concept helmet. The new one’s cooler-looking...right?
In this Eagles concept helmet, the green gets brighter, while the dome overall fades to brilliant black.
This Ted Hyman creation is not just a bold look -- it's an electric look.
Yellow gets some love in this concept helmet for the Chiefs.
Red also gets extra play -- it's now the color of the facemask. Overall, the look is strong.
So, we just said the concept helmet is strong-looking, but is it stronger than the Chiefs’ real-world helmet? Here's a side-by-side look.
On the left is the team’s current dome, as worn by Super Bowl-winning QB Patrick Mahomes; on the right, is the Ted Hyman redo. It’s a tough call, yes?
On Instagram, Ted Hyman said he produced a "slightly edited" version of the 49ers' logo. But the impact is big.
The red-and-gold, interlocked "SF" is jarring -- in a good way -- to fans raised on the classic, basic-white version.
Navy blue and orange make for one of sports' MVP color combos. This Bears concept helmet leans heavily into the orange. The result is striking.
"Wow that’s sick looking," a commenter posted on Ted Hyman's Instagram page.
On the left is Bears gear from a 2021 game as worn by running back David Montgomery. On the right, is the imagined redo.
We have to agree with the Instagram commenter: The orange version really is sick-looking.
This helmet design is, in a word, revolutionary. It dispenses with the Raiders' famous pirate-face logo in favor of a pair of crossed swords, and adds the initials of the franchise's Nevada home ("LV").
The chrome-metal facemask ties together the look -- and the look is magic.
The Raiders’ actual helmet is, of course, a classic. It’s seen here on the left, as worn by tight end Darren Waller in a 2020 game.
But is it wrong to say Ted Hyman’s crossed-swords logo is even better-looking than the real thing?
On this helmet, Ted Hyman pulled off a "cool blend," as he put it on Instagram, of the Patriots' present-day logo, and its old-school colors.
The Patriots adopted the logo known as "Flying Elvis" in the early 1990s.
Here's a good look at how the concept dome innovated, while hearkening back to another era. On the left is the current Patriots helmet as worn by punter Jake Bailey in a January 2021 game. And on the right is Ted Hyman's design.
As you can see, the concept helmet retains the spirit of the current helmet, while adding center stripes and making white, not silver, the primary color.
The Steelers helmet is a classic. This concept helmet is a new classic.
Ted Hyman's design eliminates the field of white that the Steelers' logo usually sits on. It even switches up the colors in the logo. Gone are the twinkles of red, blue and gold. In their place are chrome-style markings of gold and silver.
On the left is wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in Pittsburgh’s classic helmet. On the right is the Ted Hyman redo.
So, now that you can see the two domes side by side, we have to ask: Is it possible you like the new one better?
What's the story behind this white Packers concept helmet? Wrote Ted Hyman on Instagram, "...I thought [it] would look sick with their all-white color rush uniforms!"
Sometimes, the simplest stories are the best.
Here, you can see for yourself how Ted Hyman’s concept helmet remade the Green Bay dome.
On the left is quarterback Jordan Love during a Spring 2021 minicamp. On the right is the reimagined Packers helmet.
Our last concept helmet in this collection is one of the most striking. The Cowboys' famous star logo is set against a circle. The result is a look right out of a Marvel movie: It's positively Captain America-esque.
According to Ted Hyman on Instagram, he was going for a "[W]estern badge look."
You can see from this side-by-side comparison that Ted Hyman stayed true to his goal as stated on Instagram: He "[w]anted to do something different, but obviously the [s]tar stays on the helmet."
Pictured on the left is running back Rico Dowdle in the classic Cowboys helmet, and, on the right, of course, is Hyman's creation.