Jameis Winston, Gerald McCoy not named team captains

Jameis Winston and Gerald McCoy were not named team captains for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Which players were voted as captains in their place?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced their team captains and there were two notable omissions. Jameis Winston and Gerald McCoy were not named captains.

Winston donned the ‘C’ since 2016 and McCoy has had the role for the past six seasons. While it isn’t a significant deal that neither player will be a captain this season, but the reason is likely a simple one.

Head coach Dirk Koetter decided to put the captain voting on hold at the beginning of the season to avoid a “popularity contest,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.

With Winston away from the team for the first four weeks, the team probably felt that giving it to someone who was a big part of the team’s early success would be a better choice. Hence why Ali Marpet landed the honor for the first time in his career.

In reality, Winston not being named team captain doesn’t mean much. He is still a vocal leader, and the locker room still believes in him. The same goes for McCoy. The former All-Pro will continue to play an integral role for the remainder of the season.

Aside from Marpet, the players also voted Adarius Taylor as the special teams captain. That is the first time Taylor has worn the captain’s patch in his NFL career.

Mike Evans was voted captain for the second straight season, and Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David were named the two defensive captains.

All three starting linebackers were named captains. Perhaps a unique coincidence with linebackers coach Mark Duffner’s promotion to defensive coordinator early this week.

The Buccaneers young core of players were named team captains. Evans, Marpet and Alexander are poised to be in red and pewter for a long time, seeing them all develop into leaders bodes well.