NFL Helmets Say Choose Love on the Back, but What Does That Phrase Mean?
The phrases are meant to be a low-key form of activism.
Published Jan. 27 2025, 2:06 p.m. ET

The NFL is among the most popular institutions in all of America, and while it's a business first, it has worked to use its popularity to inspire change in the world, or at least that's what it claims to be doing. Following the AFC and NFC championship games, many wanted to know more about why some helmets have phrases like "choose love" on the backs of them.
The phrase is one of just several possible phrases that could be inscribed on the back of helmets. Here's what we know about why it's there.

What does "choose love" mean on NFL helmets?
"Choose love" and other related phrases are meant to be part of the NFL's social change initiative. Under the initiative, players can choose what they want the back of their helmets to say, and the phrases can range from things like "end racism" or "Black lives matter" to more anodyne phrases like "choose love," which was added following the 2023-2024 season. These phrases in and of themselves are only a mild form of activism, but they've caused plenty of conversation online.
"The #NFL really needs to get rid of these sayings on the back of players helmets like 'Choose Love,' it's #football you idiots," one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"'Choose Love' on the back of these NFL helmets is residual Woke lunacy. Still so much work to do before Wokeness is purged from society," another person added.
What's funny, though, is that these sayings are, at least in theory, things that everyone could agree on. Who doesn't want to choose love in their daily lives? The reason that the NFL has an approved list of things that people can put on the back of their helmets is because they don't want players to speak out in more aggressive ways, the way that Colin Kaepernick did when he kneeled during the national anthem.
These slogans are designed explicitly to look like activism without actually doing much. It's nice to put "choose love" or "end racism" on your helmet, but people reading that aren't going to change their behavior in anyway as a result.
That's not to say, necessarily, that the NFL should get more involved in politics.
What seems clear, though, is that the NFL is involved in politics to exactly the wrong degree. These phrases aren't doing anything in the actual world, but they are making conservatives mad anyway.
"Choose love" and other phrases like it are meant to remind people to lead with kindness and try to be good to one another.
Unfortunately, when you're watching a tackle football game that makes billions of dollars for the companies behind it, that rings a little bit hollow. Sports and activism can be a potent mixture, but that activist streak has mostly come from individual players, not from the leagues as institutions. The NFL definitely isn't woke, but that doesn't mean bad-faith actors won't say it is anyway.