In Case You Doubted That It's Still "EQUIPMENT"

As the first images start trickling out of the rookie training camps, eagle-eye uni spotters have noticed that the rooks' jerseys still bear the "NFL EQUIPMENT" patch, worn on all gamers since 2002 but mercifully retired as part of the transition to Nike as the exclusive league-wide uniform supplier.

Jim Biever, Packers.com

I presumed that meant they were wearing old Reebok jerseys in camp. It's a fairly common custom to recycle old practice gear It's not unheard of to keep game uniforms around after a supplier switch; for years after the Packers moved from Starter to Nike in 1997, Brett Favre continued to wear his old Starter cold-weather jersey with the manufacturer's logo covered up.

Paul Lukas asked Nike about these patches, and received the following response from publicist Brian Strong:

"The NFL shield is reserved for anything worn on gameday (including uniform, sideline, etc). The NFL Equipment logo is placed on anything worn outside of gameday (training, practice, workouts, lifting, etc). So what you’re seeing in training camp is definitely not old inventory."

Sure, he can say that, and maybe that's generally the case around the league, but not in Green Bay. Check out this photo of outside linebacker Dezman Moses with coach Kevin Greene:

Jim Biever, Packers.com

Moses is clearly wearing a reconditioned jersey, with the Reebok vector logo covered up:

Although I'd rather that the "NFL EQUIPMENT" logo had just been retired, it's good to know the NFL's official rules for its display.