Redskins GM Bruce Allen named Team President

The Capitals have just filled their two most important positions, signing Brian MacLellan to the vacant GM post and hiring Barry Trotz to succeed Adam Oates on the team’s bench; The Wizards have recently emerged as a “stealth candidate” for Kevin Love via the trade market; The Nationals have been plagued with injury so it was only fitting that the Redskins did something to keep up their portion of the city’s sports news cycle without the mention of a potential name change.

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That insignificant “give the journalists something to talk about” move came yesterday when the team announced that Redskins GM Bruce Allen had been named team President.  Allen’s responsibilities do not change in nature but the move came when owner Dan Snyder said, “I think the world of Bruce Allen and giving him both titles is appropriate.”

I don’t find it coincidental that the announcement came in the wake of Allen’s letter of response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about the potential name change. Allen came out in opposition to the letters sent by 50 Congressmen that urged Snyder to change the team’s name to something that was less offensive to the Native American community.

*** For more information about my position on that name change, you can find it here or here.

Ultimately this is the most significant tidbit of news coming out of Redskins camp right now that isn’t name-change or draft-pick-signing related. Essentially all that was done however is make Allen his own middle man between the general manager and the owner. There will surely be more news coming in regards to the name change, stay tuned.