NFL salutes its captains with a badge of honor
02:45 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Kyle Vanden Bosch was a captain of his high school football team in Iowa. He was a captain of his college football team at Nebraska. But it took him six seasons before he finally earned the captainship of an NFL team.
And the Pro Bowl defensive end of the Tennessee Titans isn’t going to give it up. Vanden Bosch was selected as a captain in a vote of his teammates in 2007 and every year since.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell instituted a captain’s “C” patch in 2007 with gold stars to denote the number of years selected. Of the NFL’s 1,696 players league-wide, Vanden Bosch will be one of only 45 with three gold stars on his patch this season.
“To me there’s no bigger honor,” Vanden Bosch said. “You can fool a lot of people. You can be one person in front of media and another behind closed doors. But you can’t fake leadership – not to your teammates.”
Six teams decided not to honor their captains with that season-long designation in 2007, opting to select them on a weekly basis. That number dipped to four teams in 2008. But there are eight teams that have decided to go the weekly route in 2009: Atlanta, Baltimore, Green Bay, Jacksonville, the New York Jets, Oakland, Philadelphia and St. Louis.
Tony Romo, Jason Witten and Bradie James of the Cowboys are three-time selections. So are quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Of the 24 teams that voted seasonal captains, 21 chose quarterbacks. That was the No. 1 position, followed by outside linebackers (17), inside linebackers (16) and safeties (10).
Every position was represented, including fullback (Mike Sellers, Washington), kick returner (Josh Cribbs, Cleveland) and deep snapper (Patrick Mannelly, Chicago) with one apiece.
Of the 45 three-time captains, four were selected by two different teams: Bucaneers center Jeff Faine (also New Orleans), Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (also Denver), Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma (also the Jets) and Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington (also the Jets).
Brett Favre was voted a captain by the Vikings this season and the Jets last season. But he is not a three-time captain, because the Packers did not select them seasonally in 2007.
Tennessee quarterback Kerry Collins, Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas and Cowboys pass rusher DeMarcus Ware are among the first-time captains in 2009.
“Before games I look around at other teams and see who their captains are,” Vanden Bosch said. “It’s a badge of honor, a special recognition.”
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Let’s go Giants-Steelers. I like what I saw from the Giants last weekend. I think Ahmad Bradshaw gives them a bit more zip and big-play potential on the ground than Derrick Ward gave them a year ago, and Osi Umenyiora restores the swagger on defense. And I love the Pittsburgh defense. I covered the game between these two teams in 2008 in Pittsburgh. The Giants won that day in a brutally physical game, 21-14, but the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl. I’d love to see a rematch of these two historical franchises come February.
Rick Gosselin shares his NFL analysis Wednesdays through Fridays on the NFL blog.
Rick Gosselin is the author of GoodFellows, the story of Detroit's surprisingly successful St. Ambrose football teams of the '50s and '60s.