NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- J.J. Watt has a uniform dream he knows will not come true. But as a fan of the game who’s studied his home city’s NFL “Luv Ya Blue” era, he dreams of wearing Oilers’ throwbacks just once.
I recently saw a tweet I thought was semi-recent, so I brought it up with Amy Adams Strunk at the owners' meetings in Phoenix. Then when I got to work on this post I discovered the Watt tweet was actually brought up in conversation but was originally from March of 2018.
I understand why, but man it’s such a shame we can’t rock the baby blue Houston Oiler throwback uniforms one time.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 21, 2018
This morning, DeAndre Hopkins sent out the picture above on Instagram and said, "Who would like to see this?"
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Strunk's answer was unsurprising.
She also addressed the idea of the Titans wearing Oilers throwbacks, something I think would be silly for them to do anytime soon considering their heading into just their second year in their long-awaited new uniforms.
I was able to connect with Watt on Thursday, and he wanted to reiterate he knows the Texans in Oilers' garb won't happen.
"People think I don’t understand that we have no rights whatsoever to the Oilers' history or uniforms, haha," he told me. "I understand it completely. It doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy those uniforms and wish we did have the rights."
Would you like to see the #Titans wear #Oilers throwback uniforms?
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) March 28, 2019
They are sharp uniforms to be sitting on a shelf.
It is a unique situation in that other uniforms, or at least variations of them, have traveled with the teams that have moved -- Cardinals, Raiders, Rams, Colts, Chargers. One stayed put as the Browns re-emerged as an expansion franchise after bolting to Baltimore to become the Ravens, effectively as an expansion franchise with a full roster.
But like Strunk said, there is no way the old Oilers are giving the Texans those uniforms even for one Sunday. There is also no way the Texans -- despite the desires of Watt and Hopkins -- would want them.