New York Giants players voted on Tuesday and named their captains ahead of the 2022 regular season.
In total, 10 players — or nearly 20 percent of the roster — were named captains, up from seven a season ago. And for several, the honor was new. For others, it was another trip around the sun.
“I’m excited about it. I’ve got a little bit of love from both sides of the ball,” safety Julian Love told reporters. “I’m not going to lie it means an awful lot to me. I’ve never been a captain in my entire life, and to do it for the Giants of all places at the highest level, it’s hard not to get emotional about it.
“It’s often that I feel like people have always wanted me to be more outspoken, wanted me to be the rah-rah guy, wanted me to be the muscle-head, all that stuff. But this team has appreciated me for staying true to myself. So, I’m extremely grateful.”
Another first-time captain is safety Xavier McKinney, who is also expected to wear the green dot on his helmet this year.
“It means a lot. It’s obviously an honor to be voted by my teammates, the guys that I go to work for every day, the guys that I grind with every day. It’s always meant a lot to me to become a captain,” McKinney said. “It says a lot about what my teammates think about me as a person and as a player. It’s honoring, I’m happy, but I’ve got to keep going and keep getting better each day.
“To me, my role as a captain — it doesn’t matter who is in the building and who is not, you’ve got to lead either way. You’ve always got to set the example, you’ve got to be able to keep pushing forward. You’ve got to be able to bring along the ones that maybe weren’t here the whole time, but when they come in, you’ve got to be able to catch them up to speed and make sure they’re on track for what we are trying to do. That’s always been what I thought a leader was.”
Offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, who is arguably one of the most quiet men in the building, also received the honor of being named captain. It’s something he suspected might happen after taking on more of a leadership role this summer.
“At the end of last season, in some of my exit meetings the biggest thing for me was to take the leadership role. A lot of times, I was focused on myself getting better — going through the struggles. The next thing for me is to be more vocal, lead by example and help the team in any way I can,” Thomas said.
“It’s definitely an honor when your teammates vote you to be one of the leaders on the team. I don’t think it stops there. I’m working every day to be a better leader, to be a better player – not just for the offensive line but for the whole team.”
One of the team’s returning captains, quarterback Daniel Jones, felt similarly to some of the first-timers. Being voted as a leader of the team by the men you grind with every day means something.
“Very appreciative to be voted and recognized as a captain. That’s something that I take very seriously. I think we all do. To be a captain is a tremendous honor. We’ve got a lot of great leaders on this team, guys named captain, guys not named captain, I think we’ve got a lot of great leaders and people who have influence; who all want the same thing, and that’s to win,” Jones said.
There may be an unusual amount of captains in East Rutherford this season, but all 10 of the players were deserving. They all work exceptionally hard for themselves and their teammates, and that was clearly reflected in the votes.
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