Chiefs players excited to break out ‘icy’ all-white uniforms for primetime game against Rams

Tyreek Hill was surprised when he went to his locker on Friday afternoon and found a white jersey and white pants hanging there.

Most other weeks, Hill and the rest of the team find out their uniform combinations in the hours before the game.

But this week, the news came a couple days early.

The Chiefs would be debuting the white-on-white look for the first time this season — and the first time since hosting Oakland on Oct. 16, 2016 — and Hill would be one of the players modeling the combination for a hype video released Friday night.

“It’s going to be icy,” Hill said. “Hopefully I can show my cleats off better.”

The Chiefs don’t use a formal process to decide when to wear the alternate looks. The team’s leaders discussed the possibility amongst themselves before taking it up with head equipment manager Allen Wright. Wright then kicked it up to team CEO and chairman Clark Hunt to make the final decision.

“That’s not my thing,” coach Andy Reid said Saturday afternoon. “The players normally ask about that. I don’t. That’s how I roll.”

It’s the second time this season the Chiefs have worn an alternate uniform look in primetime. The team wore the all-red color rush uniforms for the Sunday night game against the Bengals a month ago. According to league rules, the team can wear an alternate look one more time this season.

The Chiefs are 6-3 in the white-on-white uniforms in the Andy Reid era, and 5-2 in white-on-white uniforms with red socks.

“I like the white swag,” wide receiver Demarcus Robinson said. “I think it’s pretty sweet. You can add a little flavor to it. So I mean, I think it’s pretty nice.

“I’ve got all-white gloves and cleats kind of ready for the game. I’m excited.”

Robinson first saw the news about the all-white look on Twitter on Friday night, but defensive back Ron Parker heard locker-room whisperings about it earlier in the day.

He overheard a conversation between a couple guys that they were going to break out the look for Monday night and excitedly spread the word to his teammates.

“After that,” he said, “the word just traveled around the locker room.”

The all-white uniforms are one of Parker’s favorite uniform looks along with the red-on-red combination.

“If it was up to us,” he said, “I’d be playing in them every weekend.”

But not everyone was as excited about the white-on-white uniforms.

“Most of the chubby guys weren’t voting on all white,” Reid said with a grin.

Offensive lineman Jeff Allen tweeted that he was going to eat nothing but salads until Monday night after the news was announced. But, Allen said later, he was just kidding.

“I’m not insecure at all,” he said. “Whatever I look like, I look like. I’m ready to go.”

The special uniforms don’t give the Chiefs super powers, but the players admit there’s a noticeable shift in energy across the locker room when they’re brought out.

“I definitely think it gives you confidence,” Allen said. “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. Deion (Sanders) said that. As a player, I know we aren’t skill-position guys, but as offensive linemen, we have that same type of swag.”

Brooke Pryor

Brooke Pryor covers the Kansas City Chiefs and NFL for The Star.