2023 Thanksgiving 49ers-Seahawks game

For I believe one possession, RB Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers wore a standard (vs throwback) helmet, because damage had occurred to the latter during one of his runs, prompting a quick switch and highly visibly televised repair job of screwing on his chinstraps to the replacement helmet. The two different helmets were quite easily differentiated by their different oval “SF” logos and the rubberized bumper above the facemask (standard helmet has a smaller oval “SF” logo, whereas throwback helmet has saloon font “49ERS”).  

McCaffrey wore the mismatched helmet that was different from the rest of his teammates for I believe a carry or two during that one possession, then by the time the 49ers offense had the ball again, his throwback helmet had been repaired (or less likely, equipment staff were able to replace the logos and rubber bumper on his standard helmet to the appropriate throwback logo decals/rubber bumper).

What I suggest is perhaps documenting this in the illustration for that game by having the helmet for the 49ers alternate between throwback and standard in an animated style (like done for their socks) along with a small note along the lines of “worn for one offensive possession by RB Christian McCaffrey due to damage to his helmet”.  If not a gif-style animation, illustrate the mismatching standard 49ers helmet separately.

I’m not sure a separate illustration is possible with the current template. If it was, I would think that the socks would be done that way instead of using a gif. Also, I don’t think a single player is enough to make a new image. I asked about their policy in another post, and was told that there’s a minimum of three players needed for an adjustment.

I did see an article on Uni Watch about this, and I’m guessing you did too based on your username.