It has been a while since we had any significant changes, or even tweaks, to the primary logos in the NFL. There was a time in the 1990s and 2000s when many of the teams decided that rebranding exercises were needed to modernize their franchise. It is fair to say that these did not always have the desired effect.

It has also been some time since we had a relocation that forced the team to redesign its look completely. The Raiders, Rams, and the Chargers are the last three franchises to move to a new city. But they all kept their exact names, meaning the logos could all stay roughly the same.

When it comes to betting on football, not many will be swayed by the color of the jersey or the clean design of the logo. But these are very often the first impressions of the franchise that many new fans experience – and merchandise sales are all-important to the NFL. So, we thought we would celebrate some classic football logos – and name and shame one of the worst over the years.

Buffalo Bills

It may not have brought the team much luck at Super Bowls, but the dynamic Bills logo is a true sports classic. The current version has been around since 1974, so it has seen some dark days. But the force of the buffalo comes through, thanks to the red stripe in the middle.

One of the reasons we love this logo so much is that we know what preceded it. We’re not talking about the old-fashioned logos of the game's early days, either. In 1970, the Bills decided to modernize their logo but came up with a sorry-looking animal that looks as though it’s on its last legs. The new(ish) one is far more athletic – and may even bring the team a championship one day.

Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders is one of the most mobile franchises in the history of the NFL. From Oakland to Los Angeles – and back again – and more recently to Las Vegas. It is a shame that such an iconic team has not kept faith with one city throughout its history. But we are happy the franchise has always stayed true to the logo.

The logo is quite strange when you start deconstructing it. A football player wearing an eye patch is transposed on top of two crossed cutlasses as if it were a pirate flag. The black and silver color scheme only adds to the menace and evokes a feeling that this is not a team to be messed with.

Green Bay Packers

Sometimes, you have to stay with a classic basic design. The current version dates back to 1980, a year after the franchise decided to use just a simple ‘G.’ As a perfect example of genius in the details, the Packers added a yellow oval encompassing the letter as a minor tweak to create perfection.

The Packers logo can easily be used on all kinds of apparel and merchandise, and it is instantly recognizable as Green Bay. Showing that imitation is the most superb form of flattery, several other teams use the same design in their colors, most famously the Georgia Bulldogs.

Dallas Cowboys

This is another simple best NFL logo. Interestingly, a Cowboys team has never tried to use an image of an actual cowboy as its primary logo. It did use a curious cartoon football player riding a horse back in the late 1960s – but the less said about that, the better.

No, we will concentrate on the iconic Lone Star logo, used by the franchise for almost the entirety of its existence. One minor – but inspired – tweak in 1964 added a white line and blue border to the previously blocked blue star, and a design classic was born. In the Cowboys’ mind, Dallas is Texas.

Seattle Seahawks

We will conveniently ignore the fact that the Seahawks logo is not an osprey or sea hawk at all and enjoy the way the franchise honored the Native American history of the region when deciding on a look for its NFL team that played its first games in 1976.

Little has changed since the original design, but it has become sleeker and more fearsome-looking in recent years. The color scheme has also been tweaked in line with the overall color changes of the team. When there is so much controversy surrounding other sports franchises’ use of racist imagery in logos, it is refreshing to see something as classic and well-meaning as Seattle’s.

New York Jets

What you think of the New York Jets logo – and which version you prefer – will probably come down to how old you are and when you first started watching football. For years, the team used the classic logo, immortalized by Joe Namath, with the Jets writing overlaying the NY in the background.

But in the late 1970s, the franchise, possibly inspired by the Concorde supersonic jet of the time, was redesigned to a new sleek look. We think that was still the best version – although in a slightly retro way now. More recently, the franchise reverted to the old logo in a darker green before cleaning it up and making it more readable in 2019.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

We thought we would finish with what we consider one of the worst logos in the NFL. The franchise half-heartedly tried to copy the Raiders look, using a pirate flag, which we can just about allow because of the team's name. But it just doesn’t look good and overuses the black outline favored by modern designs.

But our biggest gripe with the Buccaneers logo is that it changed from an absolute classic. It may not have seen the best years on the field, but the original expansion team-era logo of a dashing buccaneer with a feather in his hat and a knife in his mouth was just about perfect in our eyes.

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