Jason Kelce used Washington’s [old nickname](https://sportsnaut.com/nfl/washington-commanders-sale-of-redskins-gear-huge-success) on an NFL Network broadcast Sunday, then realized he had just lost a bet with the rest of the booth.
Kelce was the analyst for the Commanders’ game against the Indianapolis Colts, alongside play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner. While breaking down Washington’s secondary, he said the unit had been good on third down, and that man coverage can break on one missed tackle. Then he slipped up.
“The Redskins right now are doing a great job of not only staying tight, but making the play when the ball is in the receiver’s hand and keeping it short of the sticks,” Kelce said.
Pasch cut in immediately. “Commanders. You did it.”
“What’d I do?” Kelce asked.
“You said Redskins,” Pasch said.
“Oh, my gosh,” Kelce said. “I almost made it out.”
The slip didn’t surprise the three of them. Pasch said the booth had made a small gentleman’s bet before the game on who would be the first to use the old name. Kelce paid it off while talking through a replay.
Kelce is still early in the booth job. He retired after 13 seasons as the Eagles’ center and has been learning the analyst role since he left the field. Most of his comments in the sequence were ordinary game talk: third-down coverage, a missed tackle, a receiver stopped short of the sticks.
Washington dropped the name in 2020, after using it since 1937. The franchise played as the Washington Football Team before becoming the Commanders. Both of those names are utterly terrible, though the Washington Football Team is the better of the two.
Owner Josh Harris has the final say on any return to the old nickname, and he has not moved that way. Kelce played against the team under the old name for nine of his 13 seasons, which is the simplest explanation for why it came out of his mouth in the middle of a coverage explanation.
The Commanders [recently sold throwback gear](https://sportsnaut.com/nfl/washington-commanders-sale-of-redskins-gear-huge-success) with the retired name and logo, including shirts honoring Art Monk, Darrell Green, and Sean Taylor plus a replica Sean Taylor jersey, and it sold out on the team website within 48 hours. The team told WUSA9 the sale was required to keep the marks under franchise control, while the Association on American Indian Affairs said reviving the name and imagery for nostalgia and profit perpetuates stereotypes Native people have spent decades trying to leave behind.
Kelce’s slip landed in the middle of that argument. He was not selling a jersey. He was calling a secondary, and sometimes the old name just comes out.