It’s official; Washington will enter the 2022-23 NFL season as the “Washington Commanders.” 

On Feb 2, 2022, the team announced their new name, a name that had been in speculation since it’s change to the Washington Football Team in the summer of 2020. The whole name changing ordeal began back in 2020, when the team’s former name, the Washington Redskins, which had been the team’s moniker since 1937, repeatedly received public backlash from ethnic groups of Native Americans who proclaimed it a racial slur. Scrambling to find a new name before the beginning of the next season, the team devised a temporary placeholder name until they could come up with a new one. Thus, the WFT was born. There were many potential names for the team to go by in the future. A list came out containing names that the team could go by in the future, including The Armada, The Brigade, The Presidents, The Defenders, The RedWolves, The RedHogs (my personal favorite), and, of course, The Commanders. Obviously, looking at the lineup, not all of them are winners. In fact, a majority of them aren’t. Let’s see what a few Robinson students think about the new name:

“This sucks” – Freshman Matt Liu 

“I think it’s a safe choice. You can’t get too mad at it, everyone’s gonna get used to it. I don’t think it matters as long as we win games” – Senior Austin Pietro

“My first reaction was that it just looked so lame. “The Commanders” sounds so dumb. They could be the best team in the league, and then someone could say “Oh yeah, we’re playing the Commanders next week” and no one would be scared.” – Freshman Isaac Childress

Do I like the name? No. It’s unbearably generic. I can’t even finish saying the whole thing aloud without gagging. Given the choice, I’d go back to the days of the “Washington Football Team” without hesitation. While I thought the name “Washington Football Team” was ridiculous in the beginning, it’s actually grown on me over the course of the past few years, and I’d be fine with no change of name at all. But, seeing how we could have ended up with a more egregious option, I’ll happily take “The Commanders” over “The Presidents” any day (I can’t believe that name was even seriously considered.) As for the new logo, helmet design, and jersey, it’s all very bland and uninspired. Why change the whole team name and not do anything with it? The designs all revolve around the letter W,  and don’t play around the new “commanders” aspect at all. But, if the name had to change, then I personally would’ve loved for the team to be the “RedHogs.” The team is still keeping the burgundy and gold color scheme, and I think it would be fantastic to see the return of the “Red” aspect in the name. Tie that in with a hog’s tough nature and the fact that “pigskin” is a nickname for a football, and I think it’s a perfect contender. If only that were the case. For now, we’re stuck with the “Commanders” and it doesn’t look like it will be changing any time soon. So, will the name stick? Or will the generally negative reception toward the new moniker drag Washington back to the drawing board?