SANTA CLARA, CA – NOVEMBER 23: Washington Redskins helmets on the sideline during their game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on November 23, 2014 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

On Thursday, FedEx officially requested that Washington change their team name.

That may finally have been the breaking point for Dan Snyder, as the team released a statement today promising a “thorough review” of the team name.

While Adam’s point on the review only taking place if the name is changing feels a bit optimistic, it is certainly long past time, and the sponsors are serious (after facing pressure themselves.) Nike, for example, removed all Washington gear from their company site. As for the statement itself, Snyder’s quote is pretty much a big nothing, but Ron Rivera’s choice of words is interesting:

“This issue is of personal importance to me and I look forward to working closely with Dan Snyder to make sure we continue our mission of honoring and supporting Native Americans and our Military.”

The mention of the military comes seemingly out of nowhere, but it’s that incongruity that could be a clue. If Washington does finally change it, going with a new nickname that is somehow tied to the military is a logical step for a variety of reasons.

It would obviously still be imperfect, but something referencing the United States military makes more sense for a Washington D.C.-area team than it does anywhere else in the country, and the league has a relationship with the military that isn’t likely to change any time soon. It also cuts off the potential crowd who would complain about PC-culture (their probable words) leading to their team’s traditional racist nickname changing; no group of people is more susceptible to “What, you don’t support the troops?”

They’d probably fold into themselves until they winked out of existence if they had to figure out a way to get around that.

Now let’s all just hope Snyder falls in love with “Generals” and does absolutely zero research before announcing it.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.