Commanders plan to add famous spear logo to helmets while not admitting it’s obvious nod to Redskins history
The Washington Commanders are planning to take a not insignificant step toward returning to their Washington Redskins history next season by altering their permanent uniforms and changing their helmet logo to include the famous spear the club wore in the 1960s.
No, they’re not calling the add-on a Native American spear.
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That would be too politically incorrect for the franchise that in 2020 abandoned the Redskins nickname and accompanying logos it had carried since 1937.
Washington Redskins Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen looks downfield in a 1968 game at RFK Stadium. (NFL)
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They’re instead trying to somehow thread a proverbial needle between the politically correct present and their traditional past by calling it a Commanders spear.
Whatever that is.
The looming change was first reported by uniform and design expert Zach Cohen and confirmed by an NFL source.
But we should have known this was possible in April when the club rolled out the spear as part of its 2026 alternate uniform.
And then club owner Josh Harris attended a fan rally in London on Saturday – before his team played the Indianapolis Colts the following day – and he wore a cap with the spear piercing the W on it.
“I like the spear,” Harris told reporters at the rally. “I mean, what can I say? It brings everything together a little bit. It brings obviously the special forces, and Native Americans and Roman gladiators.
“I like the spear. And, obviously, we had it on our helmet way back.”
Yeah, who knew the spear is about special forces? Hopefully, American special forces aren’t carrying those around in Iran.
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Washington Redskins running back A.D. Whitfield carries the football during a 38-28 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sept. 15, 1968, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Ill. (NFL)
The decision is not yet final, the NFL source confirmed to OutKick. There are branding issues, legal issues and financial issues involved. So there will be lawyers.
But clubs are allowed to change their primary uniforms and logos within the first five years of new ownership taking over a franchise. Harris completed his purchase of the Commanders in July of 2023 for $6.05 billion, then a record for a North American professional sports franchise.
From 1965 to 1969, the Redskins donned burgundy helmets that featured a spear and feather on each side. The new spear is not expected to include the feather.
A view of a Washington Redskins helmet and logo before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins at AT&T Stadium. (Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports)
Again, the politically correct Commanders wouldn’t want to insult Native Americans or maybe birds by including a feather. The new uniform, if finalized, is expected to include the spear piercing the W.
The club plays in Washington, get it?
The team used the original, much cooler Native American spear uniform as an alternate uniform in 2002-2003. Fans loved it.
And, if everyone was being honest, fans today still have a kinship to the Redskins nickname and logos, including the Indian head logo inspired by Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf, that they simply don’t have for the current W logo and Commanders nickname.
Owner Josh Harris of the Washington Commanders looks on prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sept. 11, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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But “Redskins” was banished six years ago, under pressure from certain political and marketing sectors that claimed it was racist.
Harris has said the team is never returning to the Redskins nickname. But as the Maryland-born owner continues to inch toward the uniform and traditions he rooted for as a kid, the question of a nickname change remains on the margins.
“Everyone is enjoying what we’re doing, which is embracing the past as much as we can in a respectful way,” Harris said in London. “We’re going to keep looking at how we keep doing that.”
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