11-07-2024 4:04am

PURPLE RISING HELMETS

Jeff Barto Editor

Ravens Players Give Their Thoughts on the 'Purple Rising' Helmets

By Matt Ryan, Ravens Editorial Intern

The Ravens are debuting their "Purple Rising" helmets Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals and will pair them with the purple Color Rush uniforms.

Players wore the helmets for the first time last week during practice to break them in.

This week, we asked players what they think about the first alternate helmet in team history and what their idea design would be. Here's what they said:

WR Rashod Bateman

You're the fashion guy on the team, so I wanted to get your take on the helmets.

Bateman: I'd definitely say it's the best thing that we've got working right now, for sure. We all like it. It's a little different.

If you could create your own, what would it look like?

Bateman: I like the helmet they got now. I kind of want to see what it looks like in all white.

With the black helmet?

Bateman: No, with the new helmets we just got. I want to see what that looks like with all white. I think that'll be tougher if we did that.

Do you have any special cleats for Thursday?

Bateman: Yeah, but they're not here yet. I'm doing the Lobster Dunks inspired. The guy who does them, he usually just sends me a couple inspirations and he just cooks them up for me and sends them to me. But I'll break them out Thursday night.

CB Arthur Maulet

Maulet: They hard, bro. I can't wait to put them on. I'm a purple guy. I'm from New Orleans. So [it's] one of my favorite colors. Purple is for royalty and loyalty. That's king color right there. I can't wait to put the purple and gold, man. Mardi Gras color is purple, gold, and green, so it's right at home with me.

How was it practicing in them last week?

Maulet: It was good, man. They looked good, they swagged out. I got the cleats to match them, I'm going all purple.

If you could create a Ravens helmet, what would it look like?

Maulet: You got purple, you got black, right? I guess I would go with like the all-white. All white or I would do a black, and I like red. You know we got the red eye, so I'd probably do an all-black helmet, like all black, even our logo, with a big red eye, and like our accents [are red] and red numbers.

TE Charlie Kolar

Kolar: I like it. I haven't seen the uniforms [with the helmet].

If you could create a helmet, what would it look like?

Kolar: I just think that most people when they try to do alternate helmets, they usually aren't as good as the normal ones. Some throwbacks are good. You see a lot of NBA teams try to make minimalistic designs and the fans seem to like it as much. I'm not too appearance focused, so I wouldn't say I care too much. But I like the new colors.

OLB Tavius Robinson

Robinson: They're fire. I'm excited to wear them, for sure. All purple.

If you could create your own Ravens helmet, what would you do?

Robinson: I love the black and I love the purple. Maybe white helmets with the all-white jerseys would be fire.

Any purple on those? A purple logo?

Robinson: Maybe a little bit of purple, a little bit of black. That would be fire, too.

T Roger Rosengarten

Rosengarten: I like them. I like the matte finish. I've never had a matte finished helmet before. But I like them.

If you could design your own, what would they look like?

Rosengarten: Honestly, I like the original helmet, just instead of the shiny black make it a matte black with the all-black [uniforms] we played with versus the Bills. I think that would be cool.

C Tyler Linderbaum

Linderbaum: They're cool. It's cool to switch some things up every once in a while. I think the fans will like it. That's probably the most important thing. Screw what we think. As long as the fans like it, that will be the best. So they'll be the judge, I guess.

Do you think it's cool to debut them on a Thursday night?

Linderbaum: Yeah, I mean everyone is going to be watching. Anytime you have an alternate uniform, alternate helmet, it's a cool experience, and you get to keep it too, so that'll be the best part.