Joe Theismann, after appearing to know too much, now says he knows nothing.
The former star quarterback for Washington — and current Ring of Honor member of the NFL franchise — sounded awfully confident in a radio interview Monday that the new name of the team would be the Washington Commanders.
A few hours later, when his inadvertent announcement was going viral, he stated he did not know what the name would be.
It is unclear whether Theismann was confirming a tweet that suggested the Washington Football Team would be named the Commanders or whether he was assuming the viral tweet was correct.
Last week, Twitter user @LarryLegendBTW discovered that domain of “Commanders.com” had been transferred to MarkMonitor, a company that protects corporate brands from hackers. Some NFL teams use the company, and so Larry Legend made the leap that WFT could have settled on the Commanders. An announcement about the team name is expected Wednesday.
In an interview with CBS Sports Radio, Theismann made it sound as if the name change was finalized.
“I think the Commanders is a name that is going to be one that hopefully people like going forward,” Theismann told Damon Amendolara. “There were so many different options, but once again it’s trademark infringement — it’s getting approval from different people. If you choose a name, is there a group out there that isn’t going to like it?
“… A lot of commanders in Washington D.C. and the Pentagon, and a lot of different branches of the service. So to me, that’s the way I’m looking at it, as positions of leadership when it comes to the new name.”
As the internet picked up upon Theismann’s comments, he reached out to the Washington Times.
“Not completely sure what the new name [is],” wrote the former quarterback, who has worked with WFT as an analyst. “No one has told me. Like you I’ll find out on Wednesday.”