It’s unusual, but not unprecedented, for NFL head coaches to make news just with what they’re wearing. Beyond fashion commentary on the likes of Bill Belichick’s hoodies, there have been cases of actual news, such as with Sean Payton wearing a Barstool Sports shirt with an image of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with a clown nose. And the latest development there came from new Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn at a press conference Saturday, when he wore a t-shirt that incorporated two feathers from the team’s controversial old logo (and name) with their new logo:
Dan Quinn debuted a new Commanders shirt today too. Little bit of a throwback to the old logo. If it’s for sale, it will definitely sell. pic.twitter.com/pJbYkzXv8e
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) May 11, 2024
When this happened Saturday, there was lots of discussion that this might represent a movement to bring back those elements of the old logo on a more permanent basis, or maybe even the old name. There’s been talk about that before, including with team owner Josh Harris using the old name in some conversations with fans. However, team president Jason Wright has insisted it’s not under consideration.
But as Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote Saturday, the team’s head coach wearing a logo like this can seem like a possible step towards that. “Regardless of where this leads, there are no accidents. This feels like a trial balloon, an intermediate step toward potentially bringing back the name and the logo.”
If it’s a step, though, Florio’s subsequent reporting suggests it’s one Quinn made on his own rather than at the behest of or even with the approval of the organization. Here’s what he wrote on that front Sunday:
On Sunday, the Commanders said they have “no organizational comment” on the matter.
It’s our understanding that Quinn wore the T-shirt on his own, without the team knowing he’d be doing it. Although it might have seemed like a trial balloon of sorts for the head coach to display a mashup of the current logo and the former logo, the Commanders aren’t testing the waters for a potential revival of the abandoned name and logo, or for incorporation of aspects of the old logo into the new one.
So, the Commanders are saying they did not order the code red, and Quinn is the only man out there on that wall. If that is indeed the truth, it’s conceivable. And it is a truth that’s possible to handle.
But this is a rather remarkable position for a new head coach to put his franchise in without organizational sanction. (And on that front, it’s even a bigger swing than Sean Payton wearing the Goodell clown shirt , as that came with him long-established as the New Orleans Saints’ HC, and with both him and the organization feuding with the league office.) And it leads to some further challenges for the team beyond just having to no comment on this and quietly state that they weren’t behind it. The shirt in question is not officially licensed. And as Florio goes on to note, the team now may need to go after it to defend their trademarks:
The T-shirt is not officially licensed. The bots flooding social media with links to purchase the shirt are peddling something that infringes on the organization’s trademarks. The fact that Quinn inadvertently aided and abetted infringement efforts creates a separate set of headaches for the team, which will need to mobilize its lawyers to cease-and-desist the purveyors of the T-shirt in order to protect the associated copyrights.
Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez had a notable comment about how that contradicts league crackdowns on this kind of unlicensed apparel, too:
For the last several Super Bowls, the NFL holds a counterfeiting presser a few days before the game. Fans get reminded non-licensed gear is bad. Law enforcement shows off seized fake merch.
Maybe Dan Quinn’s shirt will be in the pile ahead of the next Super Bowl. https://t.co/HupYkjg5AV pic.twitter.com/RPOzG4DOv0
— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) May 12, 2024
Beyond undermining team and league apparel licensing, Quinn’s shirt here also reignited the discussion around the team’s name and logo. While Wright’s August 2023 comments that “Going back to the old name is not being considered. Period” may have been accurate at the time, those kinds of positions can and often do change over time. And one key way they can change is based around popular support, and Quinn’s shirt Saturday sure received a fair bit of that.
Even Quinn’s decision that wasn’t a team-initiated or team-backed move, it’s possible it could lead to team change on at least an alternate version of the logo. And that might even someday extend to a name change. Two feathers here could lead to something much bigger.
Either kind of walkback towards the old controversial name and logo would draw plenty of backlash of its own, of course. And it may never happen, for that reason or other reasons. But it’s certainly notable to see those conversations again gaining momentum despite team attempts to minimize that. And it’s really remarkable to see that start with a head coach wearing an unlicensed t-shirt at a press conference, and doing so reportedly without organizational sanction.
[Pro Football Talk; image via A.J. Perez on Twitter/X]
