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The Washington Commanders are paying homage to their past while preparing for the future. And the owner is talking about another name change.
Josh Harris said the franchise is researching for a new nickname, according to a post by ESPN Commanders reporter John Keim on X.
“Harris said they’re doing research on the team name, but said the focus remains on many other things: “We’re focused on things that unify the team, unify the city around the team,” Keim posted.
He also posted: “More Harris on the name debate: “The first objective is to start winning games. I have a lot of opinions (about the name). But I can’t say. I haven’t forgotten it. I grew up here, (and) I understand it. We’ll start to do things to bring us back to our heritage & honor our past.”
Commanders' John Harris trying to get franchise turned around
Earlier this summer, Harris’ wife, Majorie said she like the current nickname, according to NBC Sports via cbssports.com.
“As you would imagine, everybody has an opinion about the name,” Majorie Harris said. “Some good, some bad, some in the middle. I think that we have a lot of work to do, so that name issue is gonna be on the side for now until we can get things going.
“Quite frankly, I had a whole day out in the community, and I kept referring to the team as the Commanders. And you know what? It sounds pretty good to me. So for now, it's the Commanders.”
Harris added that his focus for 2024 is on the team’s success.
“This year, it's about our organization,” Harris said. “Last year was a little about finding our way and not being able to make the changes that we were hoping to make until we had the opportunity to do it. Now we did. We have an amazing quarterback (rookie Jayden Daniels) and we have an amazing coach (Quinn) and GM (Adam Peters) and we're really putting the pieces together.
“We're all really excited about what this team is starting to look like and what hopefully can happen with a little bit of luck and magic and skill and hard work.”
This will be Harris' second season as the owner of the Washington franchise. The team struggled to a 4-13 finish in 2023. That lead to the firing of head coach Ron Rivera. Earlier this year, Harris brought in former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn in at attempt to turn around a program that struggled for two decades under previous owner Daniel Snyder.
