Washington To Reveal Name: Commanders, Red Tails or Hogs Favorites???

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January 4, 2022

by David Earl

[EDITOR’S NOTE: As of publication, the entity that owns the Washington franchise, Pro Football, Inc, has not made any new filings for trademarks with the United States Patent & Trademark Office other than for “Washington Football Team”.  A private third party currently holds the trademark for “Washington Redtails” and has an application pending for “Washington Redwolves”.  The name “Washington Commanders” is currently not held as a trademark, and no filing is pending, although applications are pending for “Washington Space Commanders” and “Washington Wolf Commanders”.  No one holds trademarks or have applications pending for “Washington Hogs”, although applications are on file for both “Washington Redhogs” and “Washington War Hogs”.  If you have any trademark questions, please put them in the comment section and Steve Thomas will answer as many as possible.]

Wolves/Redwolves OUT!

Thanks an announcement by the team today, the conclusion to a long and arduous rebranding process is nearing the end. Since the retirement of a long-time and beloved Redskins name, this fan base will now have something to cheer for, but will this new name be welcomed? I can honestly say that in addition to long-time hard-core Redskins fans, many of the Redwolf fans will most likely not accept the new name and will certainly reject it initially. Even with the trademark reasons behind this decision, the Redwolf pack will not care about the legalities behind this process. You can’t blame them either. This was going to be the issue regardless, right? No matter what Jason Wright and the rest of the front office produced for the new name and the rebranding process, they were never going to get 100% full support. Thus, Jason was smart to announce this decision early in the process in order to allow the Redwolf fans time to digest the decision and begin to adjust as we move onto the February 2nd release date.

Sneak Peak

The video above gave the fans a tease headed into the rebranding release date and confirmed that the much desired Burgundy and Gold will remain a staple in the design. The stripes on the helmet bring back a little nostalgia. Notice the 3 stars on the sleeve –  these stars could very represent the DC flag, but also could be used with the name Commanders. Commanders would steer the organization into the direction of a military-themed approach while incorporating local ties that Ron Rivera has desired. However, many fans think that name is a bit lukewarm. While few hate “Commanders” all together many, see this as a compromise away from Redwolves or Hogs, which don’t  come across as so generic. Plus, after all the talk of keeping the history of the team, this direction would most likely require some explanation to many because just simply keeping the Burgundy and Gold colors may not be enough. Commanders has zero ties to team history. With all that said, in my opinion, the helmet will be key here, in terms of how it is incorporated with the uniform. One of these designs put forth by a fan some time ago could look something like this:

Could It Be Red Tails?

The 3-star formation below shows what someone pointed out as a possible leading candidate towards Red Tails. I can surely speak for Hog Sty writer/editor Steve Thomas as we would be 100% on board with this direction. As I stated in my Name Series Red Tails article, “The name “Red Tails” not only covers the military theme Ron is looking for in this rebranding but the name itself is a link to an inspiring story that should be celebrated and forever revered within our country.” This is a name that could, in time, bridge the gap of the hard-core fans over the past decades and the newer generation fans as they learn and understand the history and significance of the Tuskegee Airmen. I’d be hard-pressed to call this team anything but Redskins, but the Red Tails name would be an absolute honor for me to use and to display the new rebranding logo without regret. Personally, I say let this happen!

Groundhog Day: February 2nd?

Could the actual release date be the key to the new name? One of the finalist was the Hogs and one variation of that could be Red Hogs if not simply Hogs. Of course this would be an obvious call back to one of the NFL’s best offensive line units ever, the Hogs under Joe Gibbs. For more on the history and relevance check out the Name Series Hogs article. Below is a video highlight of one of the greatest times in this franchises’ history.