I’ve been following this seller on eBay for a long time. I’ve even purchased helmets from the seller. He make great custom pocket helmets. His ebay handle is TravisTomMark.
The white helmets were made by TravisTomMark. They show alternate logos and facemasks. I particularly like the Lions and old Ravens logo with the gold facemask. Well done!
For clarification, some prototypes are a design a team seriously considered using, but never did. Other prototypes are fun helmets collectors make on their own. Underneath the white prototypes are some photos of prototypes I have made and are in my collection.
This Titans throwback / Oilers drop happened over the holidays. According Riddell, it’s the last limited edition drop of 2024. That does not mean it’s the last limited edition drop, as there could be more after Jan. 1, 2025.
This is the 15th limited edition drop from Riddell this year. Eight have been throwbacks and seven alternates. The Oilers helmet is notable for being the first speed style Oilers helmet.
1964-65: Same helmet as 1960-63, but with white and red stripes added. There is no factory helmet for this style. I bought a factory helmet and added the red and white stripes.
1960-63 (two on the left, both factory), 1964-65 (right, custom)
1966-67 (back row): Silver helmet, blue derrick with white and red outline, red-white-blue-white-red stripes, grey facemask. This helmet is in the Throwback AFC 1969 2-bar set. The traditional style helmet in the photo is a custom; I added the white stripes.
1968-71 (front row): Silver helmet, blue derrick with white and red outline, red-blue-red stripes, grey facemask. Same as the 1966-67 helmet, but the white stripes were removed. This helmet is in the Throwback Series 2 set. Riddell placed a large gap between the red and blue stripes. However, I found no evidence of the gap. I think the red-blue-red stripes are contiuous. More information about that is in another post.
1966-67 (back row, factory on the left, custom on the right), 1968-71 (front row, factory)
1972-74: Columbia blue helmet, white/red stripes, red derrick with red outline, grey facemask. Riddell did not manufacture a factory version of this helmet. The helmet in the photo below is a custom.
1975-80: White helmet, blue derrick with red outline, red-white-blue-white-red stripes, grey facemask. No official factory helmet was made, but it can easily be customized by switching out the facemasks.
1981-96: Same helmet, but with a red facemask. The factory helmet is available in the Traditional style. Also in the speed style as a throwback (picture available at the beginning of this post).
1997-98: Same helmet, but with a tiny Tennessee state flag in the corner. The factory helmet is available in the Traditional style.
A cool throwback to the helmet the Dolphins wore in 1966. And then again sporadically between 1969-73.
Between 1966 and 1979, the Dolphins wore the same helmet, but with two different logos. In one logo, the Dolphin is inside the ring. In the other logo, the Dolphin is outside the ring. In the early days, the Dolphins would sometimes wear the two different logos in the same game.
In 1966, the Dolphins wore both logos (inside and outside). Then, in 1967 and 1968, the Dolphins only wore the outside Dolphin logo. The inside ring helmet came back in 1969. It was worn until 1973, when the Dolphins returned to the logo with the Dolphins on the outside.
The inside ring logo was used again for game in 1994 as a throwback. However, that helmet had an aqua facemask, not a grey one. The style with the inside-ring + grey facemask not worn again until 2015 as a throwback. The Dolphins have worn this throwback every year since. This is the throwback the Dolphins just dropped.
You may be wondering about the outside ring logo. Well, that hasn’t been worn since 1979. It would make a fun throwback. And maybe the Dolphins could wear both the inside ring and outside ring in one game!
This is the 6th “limited edition” throwback Riddell had made in 2024. There have been 7 alternate “limited edition” alternates, for a total of 13 limited editions.
Other 2024 throwbacks that have not been manufactured in 2024 include: Chicago (1936-37, three orange stripes), Dallas (1960-63), Jacksonville (1995-12), New York Jets (1965-77), San Francisco (1989-95), and Tenneessee (Oilers, 1975-96).
Other 2024 alternates that have not been manufactured in 2024 include: Arizona (black), Cleveland (white), Denver (white), Green Bay (plain yellow with grey facemask), Houston (2 helmets), Indianapolis (black), LA Chargers (2 white), Minnesota (white), NY Jets (black), and Washington (black). There’s also a small backlog of 2023 alternates.
Riddell also released a speed style helmet in honor of the draft in 2025 in Green Bay.
What is interesting about this drop is that it’s from a previous year. Most of the other “Limited Edition” helmets were from 2024. The other two being the Bears (2022-present) and Cowboys (2023-present).
This means Riddell is open to making speed alternates from before 2024. Pre-2024 helmets could include:
Cardinals black alternate (2022)
Bears three-orange striped (2019)
Browns white alternate (2023)
Broncos white 2023 and 2024 alternates
Lions honolulu blue (2023)
Colts black alternate (2023)
Texans battle red alternate (2022)
Eagles black alternate (2022)
Commanders black alternate (2022).
For 2024, non-factory alternates that Riddell has not manufactured are:
Broncos white
Jaguars white
Jets black
Texans steel blue
Texans red
Vikings white
Who will be next? The list above has 16 options. We know Riddell has already manufactured the Lions honolulu blue 2023 alternate, but just has not released it widely. Maybe Riddell will release all of them in due time? Or as a set?
1964-92: White helmet, Pat Patriot logo, red-white-blue-white-red stripes. The only change made in 1964 was the addition of the middle blue stripe. This helmet had a grey facemask (1964-81), white facemask (1982-90), and red facemask (1991-92).
The 1964-81 factory pocket helmet is available as a two-bar and traditional style factory helmet. The 1991-92 factory pocket helmet is available in the traditional style (as part of a 4-piece team set).
So, what makes this drop unique is that it is the first factory helmet for this style. Very cool.
To my knowledge, 8 teams are wearing throwbacks this year. Riddell had manufactured a speed helmet for 5 of them. The other teams are the 49ers, Jaguars, and Jets. None of these teams have a speed helmet for the throwback. The 49ers is in the traditional style, Jaguars in the 2-bar, traditional, and revolution styles, and Jets in the 2-bar style.
The Broncos X feed claims this helmet is a throwback to 1977. The facemask and stripe colors are. The helmet color likely is, but that may not matter as the Broncos wore several shades of blue in this era.
However, it appears the D-logo on the actual helmet and the pocket helmet is the 1993-96 D-logo, not the logo the Broncos wore in 1977. So, the helmet is actually a throwback to the 1993-96 era, not 1977.
Broncos D-helmet era
The Broncos adopted the D-era helmet in 1968 and wore it through 1996. The team made the switch to the modern-logo helmet in 1997 (I am in the minority who prefer the modern helmet, but to each their own).
The helmet had several iterations, but I will try to simplify it. The Broncos wore a blue helmet between 1967 and 1996. The 1967 helmet was blue, but had no logo. Between 1967-73 the facemask was grey and was white between 1974-96. They all had various shades of blue. The Broncos wore the same logo until 1992. In 1993, the team updated the logos (see image below). The Broncos wore the D logo helmet again in 2016 through 2023 as part of the color rush/alternate series and in 2023 as a “white out” helmet.
This amounts to 6 different helmets (see the list below).
1968-70: Dark blue helmet, first ‘D’ logo, white-orange-white stripes, grey facemask
1971-73: Medium blue helmet, first ‘D’ logo, white-orange-white stripes, grey facemask
Speed. The Broncos X feed claims this is a throwback to 1977, but the logo on the helmet is from 1993-96.
If you don’t care about the shades of blue, there are only three helmet styles, not including the alternates: 1968-73 (grey facemask, first logo), 1974-92 (white facemask, first logo) and 1993-96 (white facemask, second logo).
Here are the D-logos. The old-D logo (1968-92) is on the left. The new D-logo (1993-96) is on the right.
The Jaguars and Packers added two “white out” helmets to their alternates this year. No news on the pocket helmet status, but none expected either as these are brand new. So, the Jaguars will wear three helmets in 2024: the white out, the 1995-2012 throwback, and their primary helmet. The Packers will wear two.
One might think the Packers have not worn a lot of alternates as their primary helmet has not changed since 1961. However, the white out helmet will be their fourth alternate since 1994. Here are the other three.
1994, 2013-19: Plain yellow helmet, green facemask. I believe the intent of this helmet is to be a throwback as it was worn in the 1994 throwback year. However, the Packers never wore a plain yellow helmet. Their yellow helmets have always had one or two stripes.
2001, 2021 alternate: Plain yellow helmet, grey facemask. This is the same helmet as above, just with a grey facemask.
2010-11 alternate: Plain brown helmet, grey facemask. I believe this helmet is a throwback of sorts to the 1951-53 plain brown helmet. The modern helmet is much darker, though.
If one doesn’t consider the facemask color, the Packers and the Browns have the oldest primary helmet designs still in use (1961). The Browns made a slight change to their striping texture in 2015-19, so maybe it’s not as continuous as the Packers.
The Jaguars and Packers join the Bengals, Broncos, Browns, Cowboys, and Vikings for teams that have worn the white out helmet in 2023 or 2024, for a total of seven.
The Jaguars introduced a throwback for 2024. It is the helmet they wore in 1995-2012.
This helmet is available as a pocket helmet in the 2-bar, traditional, chrome, and revolution styles. A lot of them are still available on various shopping sites. It is not available as a speed style factory helmet. I would anticipate it’s appearance as a factory speed pocket helmet is unlikely. But who knows?
This should be straight forward, right? Well, kind of.
First, the pocket helmet is a 100% accurate depiction of the 1966-69 Falcons helmet: gold/white/black stripes, grey facemask, the feather has floating lines, and the arm and neck meet in a V-pattern.
Of course, the speed style helmet was not around in the 1960’s. The falcons wore it as a throwback in 2009 and 12. And again in 2022-23. The helmet is accurate save for one minor detail: the neckline. In 1966-69, the logo had a V-pattern. The throwback the Falcons have worn in the 20th century has a straight line between the head and arm. Look at the photo above and the photo below.
So, the pocket helmet is an accurate throwback in the speed style. The actual throwback helmet wore by the Falcons is not 100% accurate. This is a minor detail that may not matter to most collectors, if not all of them. Happy collecting!
Riddell NFL Pocket Pro Helmets 