Washington legends Joe Gibbs and Charles Mann share thoughts on name change

After two years as the Washington Football Team, the franchise is set to debut its new identity on Feb. 2.

There have been some leaks hinting at the new name, but all we know at this stage is that Warriors, Wolves and Red Wolves are out of contention.

To the best of our knowledge, it sounds like Commanders, Admirals, Defenders, Red Hogs, Sentinels and Armada are all being considered. Whatever gets chosen, we’re one step closer to fully moving on from the “Redskins” era.

It’s a tough pill to swallow for the fan base, especially considering that the organization just celebrated the 30-year anniversary of its last Super Bowl win in 1992, when Washington knocked off Buffalo 37-24.

In commemoration of that victory, Gibbs joined Brian Mitchell and NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay on Wednesday. While the championship was closely examined, the pending rebrand came up in conversation.

Given that Gibbs spent his entire coaching year in Washington, you can imagine it’s taking him some time to warm up to the name change.

Washington Football legends Joe Gibbs and Charles Mann shared their thoughts on the team’s upcoming rebrand.

"“Will it be a little bit…bittersweet? Yeah,” Gibbs said. “I grew up in North Carolina. The only football team we could get on TV was the Redskins. I grew up never thinking I’d ever have a chance to coach them.And everything in my house is Redskins. So…that’s part of our history. But also I think for our fans and all of us that love the Redskins — I feel like I’m the biggest Redskin fan in the world — whatever that name is, we are Washington football fans and we’re gonna get behind it.”"

What do you know? Gibbs is still the best. For someone who spent 16 years in charge of the then-Redskins, the rebrand has to be a little shell-shocking for him. Never one to create conflict, though, the three-time Super Bowl champion made sure to encourage the fan base to endorse whatever gets chosen.

Unfortunately, Charles Mann, who ranks third on Washington’s all-time sack list, didn’t echo his former head coach’s sentiment.

During an appearance on 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies, Mann, along with other former players were informed of the finalists. To say they weren’t giving a ringing endorsement would be an understatement.

"“I’m not happy with the name,” said Mann. “They gave us the three names probably three months ago on a Zoom call and they asked us about all three of them. We crucified all three names.”"

Well, that quote surely won’t set off an antsy fan base.

It’s worth noting that Mann isn’t against the name switch altogether. He recognizes the previous nickname was offensive and understands why it’s being done. With that said, it doesn’t sound like he’s going to host a watch party on Feb. 2.

If we had to pick a side in terms of how we’re approaching the big reveal, we probably have to be in Gibbs’ corner. That’s not to say Mann is wrong for disparaging the finalists (who are we to judge what we don’t know?), but the name change is already splitting so many opinions that we’d much rather spread positive energy.

Our advice? Temper expectations, but keep an open mind and try not to be offensive when someone disagrees with your opinion.