The Detroit Lions have pushed their new uniform release for a few weeks this offseason. But a leak hours ahead to the team’s official intended release destroyed the surprise.
However, the Lions were prepared for someone to steal their thunder. The team produced a video featuring defensive tackle Alim McNeill telling off the leak on the team’s official X (previously Twitter) account.
“Whoever leaked the uniform video, we appreciate it,” McNeill added. “We appreciate you ruining all the hard work we put in.
“Video coming soon.”
You have disappointed @AlimMcneill. pic.twitter.com/bHF1YDC1NM
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) April 18, 2024
The Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett stated the footage was pre-recorded in case of a leak and went live just minutes after the release.
In the video, McNeill was wearing one of the three new outfits the Lions were slated to showcase this offseason.
Over the first hour and a half, McNeill’s movie was viewed more than 650,000 times on X.
Many Detroit supporters enjoyed the pre-prepared video message to the leaker. Detroit sports YouTube celebrity Tony Dombrowski was one of the first to remark, calling the video “hilarious.”
“The fact you were prepared for them to leak is hilarious lol,” wrote Dombrowski on X.
Birkett also reported the Lions were originally planned to debut their new clothes on the evening of April 18. The leak occurred around 8 hours previous to that intended release.
Lions Set to Release New Uniforms
As McNeill said, the Lions would release a video announcing the new uniforms officially at their originally scheduled time. But Detroit fans can already find the new shirt designs thanks to the leak.
The first of the three jerseys was Honolulu Blue. The new uniform also contains white lettering for the numbers with silver trim along with broad silver and slender white stripes on the sleeves. This is the jersey McNeill donned in the video.
The new road uniform will be white with blue writing. Like the Honolulu Blue shirt, silver will outline the numerals. On the sleeves, this jersey will have strong blue and thin silver stripes.
Finally, the Lions will also sport a black third alternate uniform. This black jersey will be complimented by blue numbering with silver highlighting. Like the white jersey, this alternate will have the same sized blue and silver stripes.
This isn’t the first time the Lions have presented a black alternate uniform. Birkett noted they originally started wearing a black alternate uniform in 2005 but haven’t worn it since 2007.
The leak didn’t mention what color pants the Lions will wear with each jersey.
Detroit is upgrading its uniforms this offseason for the first time since 2017. Birkett said that at that time, the Lions launched their “color rush” steel gray outfits.
With the color rush jerseys, the Lions sported a new blue helmet with a retro-styled Lions emblem during Monday Night Football on October 30 last season.
Lions QB Jared Goff Jokes About Leaking New Jerseys
The Lions social team continued to joke about the uniform unveiling on April 18.
Roughly 20 minutes after posting McNeill’s video, the team shared a video of quarterback Jared Goff gazing at the club’s new outfits. In the video Goff says, “I need to take my pictures and then leak them to Twitter.”
In the caption of the video, the Lions X account joked that Goff was the one who leaked the jerseys.
“Inside job?” the Lions account asked while tagging Goff.
Inside job? @JaredGoff16 pic.twitter.com/vC2J8n58mO
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) April 18, 2024
It is hard to imagine the Lions social team being better prepared for a uniform leak than it was.
