Dan Snyder Is Reportedly Trying Very Hard To Avoid Name Leaks

A new Washington Redskins name is coming. By the sounds of it, the franchise is aiming to roll out the full new name and branding in time for the 2020 season, which is less than two months away.

That is an incredibly quick turnaround. However, once the team announced that it was ditching its long-controversial nickname, it would be hard to put that cork back in the bottle. There have been suggestions that the team could use something like “Washington Football Club” to give themselves more time, but the expectation remains that the new name itself is fast approaching.

“One person familiar with the discussions between the franchise and the league said the preference is for Washington to have its new name by the start of training camp July 28,” Les Carpenter of The Washington Post reports. “’They have to do it soon because of the uniforms,’ that person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to disclose private conversations.”

Three names stand out as distinct possibilities. Warriors, Redtails and Red Wolves all have various levels of support among fans and current and former players. There are some concerns that Warriors wouldn’t full separate the team from the racist Washington Redskins name. Redtails is a nod to the Tuskegee Airmen, which adds a military element that head coach Ron Rivera, one of the members of owner Dan Snyder’s close circle on name issues, supports. Red Wolves is just a pretty cool unique name that would still retain the classic franchise color scheme.

Wherever things are going, Snyder is keeping it close to the vest. Carpenter reports that the team working on the rebrand is keeping things air tight to avoid leaks until a decision is made. If the timeline laid out above is accurate, that could be any day

“Two people familiar with the review said Snyder is relying heavily on a small group of advisers that includes Coach Ron Rivera,” he reports. “Aside from Monday’s name retirement announcement, the most revealing details have come from Rivera, who said in a July 4 interview that he and Snyder have been discussing the team’s name since May.”

In that earlier Rivera interview, he would not reveal the name options. He did say that it “would be awesome” if a change could come in time for the season, pretty clearly showing that that’s where the effort currently lies.