Washington announces date for rebrand, rules out two popular name choices

With the Washington Football Team mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, it’s time for the front office to start preparing for what’s shaping up to be a defining offseason as it pertains to the future of the franchise.

With a gaping hole at quarterback, burning questions at key positions, including linebacker and wide receiver behind Terry McLaurin, a host of players set to hit free agency and ample projected cap space, this offseason will no doubt decide Ron Rivera’s future with the organization.

Getting beyond Washington’s on-field product, it’s also time to focus on something that will have a more lasting impact: the team’s rebrand.

Amazingly enough, it didn’t take long for that to take centerstage.

In his latest president’s brief on Tuesday, Jason Wright disclosed Washington will announce its new nickname and logo on Feb. 2.

The club tweeted out a teaser trailer shortly after the announcement that featured a sneak peek at the new uniforms.

https://twitter.com/WashingtonNFL/status/1478352408774332417

The Washington Football Team announced its new nickname will be revealed on Feb. 2.

This is fantastic news, but it comes with a caveat.

Once the new nickname was teased, waves of fans immediately campaigned for “RedWolves” or “Wolves” as the new name. Well, due to trademark issues from other teams, those names have been withdrawn from consideration.

"“Early on we understood Wolves — or some variation of it — was one of our fan favorites,” Wright said in his brief. “Once we began looking into Wolves, however, we became aware of a notable challenge: trademarks held by other teams would limit our ability to make the name our own. And without Wolves, variations like RedWolves wouldn’t have been viable either for these and other reasons.”"

Washington was very careful not to leave any hint of evidence as to what the new nickname might be. However, the internet is undefeated and fans on Twitter discovered that a specific URL redirected to the team website.

The URL? WashingtonAdmirals.com.

This could obviously just be someone with a redirect URL or a smokescreen of some sort to throw fans off the scent, so we wouldn’t overreact.

The polarizing “Hogs” nickname is also being speculated as the new name will be announced on…you guessed it, Groundhog day. We’ve also seen the popular “Red Tails” name gain steam given the uniform’s updated look.

It could honestly be any of the above choices. What we do know, though, is that “Warriors” and anything “Wolves” related is out of contention.

No matter what the new name is, it will split opinions. However, all fans should be able to get behind this awesome nugget.

The name reveal is exactly a week before the Feb. 9 Pro Bowl, meaning one (or both) of Jonathan Allen and Brandon Scherff could debut the new logo and helmet in the game. That’d be quite the test run, don’t you think?

We certainly think so.

Either way, what matters is that the wait is almost over. On Feb. 2, over a year and a half since Washington disbanded from its former moniker in the summer of 2020, the franchise will have a new nickname.

Let the month’s worth of speculation begin!