National Football League team captains

Oakland Raiders 2nd-year captain patch

Indianapolis Colts 3rd-year captain patch

Chicago Bears 5+-year captain patch

In the National Football League, the team captain designation is a team-appointed position that designates certain players as leaders on and off the field. The captains program was implemented by the NFL Player Advisory Council established by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in conjunction with the NFL Players Association. Starting in 2007, the league began permitting teams to name up to six players as captains.^[1]

Players who have been named a team captain typically have a "C" patch on their jerseys. There is a standard design used by all teams participating in the captaincy program. The patches are in team colors and are worn on the front left or right breast (depending on other patches, etc. worn by the specific team). The number of stars filled in on the patch represents the number of consecutive years that player has been named captain by that team. If they've been named captain for longer than four years, the "C" on the patch is gold. Some teams (e.g. Pittsburgh and New England) do not have this patch on their jerseys but still designate captains. The New York Jets have not designated team captains since an incident involving Santonio Holmes in a 2011 game. In the 4th quarter of the final game of the 2011 season against the Miami Dolphins, Holmes appeared to get into an argument with Jets offensive tackle Wayne Hunter while the team was huddling. As a result of the argument, Holmes was benched for the remainder of the game, and the Jets ended up losing the game, which resulted in the Jets missing the postseason for the first time in 3 years. His leadership qualities and credibility as a captain have since been questioned.^[2]

During special recognitions, the patch may be a different color; e.g., pink for breast cancer awareness;^[3] or camouflage for military service recognition.

Because of the nature of the game, most teams include their starting quarterbacks as Offensive Captain.

Current players wearing the 5+ star all gold captain patches

• Drew Brees

• Eli Manning

• Aaron Rodgers

• Matt Ryan

• Adam Vinatieri

References