Oh, Hey There! Where are the 49ers alternate helmets?

It feels like every other team has announced an alternate…

Now that the NFL has decided to join the 21st century and allow teams to have multiple helmets, 40% of the league has announced alternate lids (and/or jerseys) for the upcoming season. On today’s Oh, Hey There! Podcast Jason Aponte and Leo Luna wondered why the 49ers haven’t gotten in on the fun.

There will be no shortage of alternate uniforms and helmets next season.

So if so many teams around the NFL have had these designs ready to go, why haven’t the 49ers?

Could it be that they’re still recovering from the last time they proposed a helmet design? In case you’re too young to remember, this was actually the team’s logo for a week in 1991 before fan outrage caused the team brass to change their minds.

“Why haven’t they [made new helmets]? I don’t know,” Leo said, “My gut feeling is that they’re probably not going to release it. We’ve seen them go with the black pants and the black jerseys so they can obviously expand past the gold helmet, red jersey, gold pants.

I would love to see them bring back the black uniforms with the black helmet. That would be sick. That was kind of one of the things that was disconnected. I could care less if the jersey number was visible from section 300. If you put a black helmet on those, it’s probably one of the best uniforms in the league. Maybe the best alternate uniform in the league.”

The 49ers have a notoriously hard logo and color scheme to work with beyond what they already wear because gold works best as an accent color rather than a primary jersey option. However, there are some cool ideas for alternate helmets floating around the internet.

Another change that could potentially be coming in San Francisco is the return of the team’s red helmet. The team hasn’t officially announced anything, but when they unveiled their red throwbacks in June of last year, chief marketing officer Alex Chang hinted that the 49ers would consider wearing a red helmet with their throwbacks.

“There’s really two options for us,” Chang told CBSSports.com in 2021. “Stick with the ‘94 helmet, which we’re already using today, and we love that look — or a 1955 helmet which was a red helmet with a silver stripe and face mask. So we’re looking at both.”

The 49ers love to honor their past, so paying homage to the red helmets of ‘55 seems like it would be right up their alley. They could also go with some variation of the silver helmet they wore in the 1960s.

Personally, I’d like to see a different design, one that would be worn with the all-white 1994 throwback jerseys. I’d like a white helmet with a red face mask and two red stripes down the center. On the side, the traditional 49ers logos but outlined in red. I think that would be a clean, fresh look for a new era in the team’s history.

What alternate jersey or helmet designs would you like to see? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Other topics in today’s show

Why don’t the 49ers have alternate helmets yet? (1:03)

We made it through the dark times – training camp is here! (5:27)

Will Jimmy G. have actually to show up (9:05)

Who takes over for K’Waun Williams? (11:13)

Who will handle the edge opposite Nick Bosa? (16:49)

Why Talanoa Hufanga will be better than you think (22:22)

Leo’s concerns on the offensive line (31:02)

Was Aaron Banks drafted specifically with Lance in mind? (34:02)

Who will the deep threat be on this team? (39:41)