Washington Redskins coach Ron Rivera said he has been working with owner Dan Snyder on a new team nickname for the past few weeks.
“If we do it in time for the season, it would be incredible,” Rivera told The Washington Post in an interview on Saturday.
“We came up with some names, two of them that I really like,” Rivera told the newspaper. He did not reveal the names.
Washington is likely to change its name, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, after the team announced Friday that it “will undergo a thorough review” of the nickname amid renewed pressure to change it, given the national focus on human rights and social justice after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement Friday that the league has had “ongoing discussions” with Snyder and is “supporting this important step.”
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith also released a statement in support of the Redskins’ formal review of the team’s name.
Rivera told the Post that it is important that a new nickname respect the culture and traditions of Native Americans, while saluting the military. Rivera is the son of an army officer.
“We want to do this in a positive way,” said Rivera, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent and is the only Hispanic head coach currently in the NFL.
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