Former Redskins QB Has Baffling Take On Team Name

Former Washington Redskins quarterback Jay Schroeder has an opinion on the team’s name controversy.

Do any of our readers remember Jay Schroeder? No? Well, that is probably because his career in the NFL was not exactly memorable.

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Aside from one solitary pro-bowl appearance in 1986 and a Super Bowl championship, both with the Washington Redskins, Schroeder spent 10 seasons in the league throwing for just over 20,000 years and 114 TDs.

Was he bad? Not really. He was not great, however.

It is not Schroeder’s arm that is the subject of this piece though.

His mouth appears to be far outpacing his legacy on the field these days.

Recently, he made comments regarding the name of the embattled Washington franchise of which he called home from 1984-1987. Consider this a warning. You are about to face-palm; severely.

“Let’s take the context of the word Panthers. It’s an animal, but let’s recall what happened in the 1960s with the militant groups [the Black Panthers]. If you’re going to take that context, you can take every word and look at it and decide what your own meaning is going to be,” said Schroeder.

That is all fine and good, except that there is one major oversight, Jay. A panther, by its base definition, is indeed an animal. Has the term “Redskins,” aside from the football team, ever been used in a non-derogatory manner? The answer is a resounding no.

It has, and always will be a racial slur.

The fact that Dan Snyder has the ability to change the franchise’s name, yet steadfastly refuses, shows a blatant disregard for an entire ethnicity of people. So, if I were Mr. Schroeder, I would think long and hard before I go to bat for my former team.

What motivation did he have anyway? It is not as if he is currently being paid by the team for his services. I refuse to believe any rational person would comment on an issue like this to a major newspaper, knowing about the nature of his stance and how radical it is in relation to popular opinion.

Perhaps he believes he is taking a stand for what he truly feels is right. It would not surprise me, however, if this is just simply a case of a player wishing to rekindle the spotlight after years away from the sport.

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