Like most NFL franchises during the postseason, Washington’s football team plans to make a name for themselves. Unlike other franchises, who plan to do this by scoring touchdowns and winning games, this team is taking a more literal approach. After going by the “Washington Football Team” for the past two years, the club is finalizing a new nickname. 

Throughout its vast history of expansion teams, the NFL has only had four change names without moving cities; the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Chicago Bears, and now the Washington Football team. The Jets changed their name most recently, in 1963, after only existing for two years prior as the New York Titans.  

Unlike past name changes of other NFL franchises, this modern-aged change came as a result of intense backlash towards the original name, “The Redskins”, which stood for 80 years. Due to the seriousness of the racist undertones in the original name, the swiftness of this rare name change was expected.  

Currently, the list of possible team names has been narrowed down to nine options as the tenth, The Warriors, was removed because the franchise wants to avoid Native American themes. The names “Wolves” and “RedWolves,” two of the more popular options with over 40,000 fan submissions, were also removed because of trademark concerns.  

The remaining name options as reported by the associated press are as follows: the Admirals, Armada, Brigade, Commanders, Defenders, Presidents, Redhawks, Red Hogs and Sentinels. 

Only a small portion of students in the Hereford Zone support Washington over Baltimore, but with both the Ravens and Washington out of the playoffs, fans in the area curiously wait for the name reveal.  

Despite the mixed opinions of fans in the Maryland and DC area, most are just glad Washington came up with something more creative than “The Football Team” and happy to have something to talk about other than the playoffs. The franchise plans to unveil the name on Feb. 2.