The Titans are lightening up in 2025.
Tennessee is swapping primary home jerseys this season, moving from the club's navy blue top to its light blue -- affectionately known locally as "Titans blue" -- jersey, the team announced on Thursday.
"We're talking to fans and we're listening, and there's a clear appetite to have the Titans, their team, represented on the field in this noticeable color that has been with this team from 1960 in Houston, into Memphis, at Vanderbilt and as we've played at Nissan Stadium," Titans president Burke Nihill said in a statement.
"We're going to emphasize that this year and change to Titans blue as the primary color. As we sit here today, the plan is to wear Titans blue at every one of our home games this year."
The identity shift is not new to the franchise. After becoming the Titans and rolling out navy and white uniforms with light blue detail marks in 1999, Tennessee joined the NFL's third-jersey push in the early 2000s, debuting a light blue shirt that became a fan favorite in 2003.
An inverse of the navy top, the Titans' blue jersey became their primary uniform in 2008 -- the same season in which Kerry Collins led Tennessee to a 13-3 finish and the AFC's No. 1 seed -- and remained their primary look until 2015. Running back Chris Johnson raced to football fame in the light blue top, which was especially visually pleasing when paired with matching light blue pants.
The color holds a special place in the hearts of Titans fans because of the success the franchise enjoyed while wearing it. In fact, when Tennessee drastically revamped its uniforms in 2018, it made sure to include an alternate light blue top in the new kits and offer matching pants to increase the total number of uniform options.
The arguably more influential tie to the color can be found in the team's Houston roots. Powder blue was a defining color in the Houston Oilers' color scheme for more than 30 years, occupying space on every part of the uniform throughout their existence in Texas and extending into their move to Tennessee in 1997. The aforementioned Johnson made the Oilers throwback uniforms -- a powder blue-heavy kit worn during the AFL's 50-year anniversary celebration in the 2009 season -- especially memorable, rushing for 2,006 yards while wearing the powder blue helmet and matching uniform.
The Titans' inclusion of light blue is directly tied to their franchise's history, and with the visuals of Jeffery Simmons, Tony Pollard and even big man T'Vondre Sweat still fresh in the minds of Titans fans, the club is making the wise decision to pivot back to the more popular shade of blue for their primary uniforms. Navy will remain a significant part of the uniform -- it is the color of the helmet, after all -- but for the foreseeable future, the Titans will be identified by the shade bearing their name.
