Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify remarks made by Darrell Green. A previous version of this story reported that Green said the Redskins should consider a name change. In remarks to WTOP, Green said a conversation about a name change should take place.
WASHINGTON – Redskins training camp opens on Thursday, and as the team prepares for the 2013 season, controversy grinds on over the team’s name: Should it be changed?
Two Redskins Hall of Famers have weighed in.
During the 1980s and 1990s, when the team was chalking up NFC championships and Super Bowl wins, Art Monk and Darrell Green were two of the vital cogs in the wheels of victory.
Monk, who set an NFL record for most catches in a season with 106 and helped lead the Redskins to three Super Bowl victories, says the team should consider a name change.
“If the Native Americans feel like ‘Redskins’ or the ‘Chiefs’ or [another] name is offensive to them, then who are we to say, ‘No, it’s not’?” Monk says.
Darrell Green, one of the league’s greatest cornerbacks, had a remarkable 20-season career and played in three Redskins Super Bowls — two of them victories.
He said he agrees with Monk, his former teammate, that a discussion should take place about a name change.
“It deserves and warrants conversation because somebody is saying, ‘Hey, this offends me,’ and then you have a conversation,” Green says.
Although Monk says he doesn’t know whether the Redskins would ever consider a new name, he insists it should be “seriously considered.”
Green believes that disputes, like the public disagreement over the team’s name, can sometimes lead to court battles.
“Unfortunately in this country, conversations mean legal, dollars, suits,” Green says.
In May, 10 members of Congress sent a letter to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder strongly urging him to change the team’s name, charging that the name is derogatory and unacceptable.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell responded to the lawmakers by saying the name “is a unifying force that stands for strength, courage, pride and respect.”
Snyder has simply said he will never change the team’s name.
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