With the regular season kickoff just over a week away, the Jacksonville Jaguars have finalized their 53-man roster. With stars on both sides of the ball and a new coaching staff ready to prove how capable their team can be, the last touches of preparations are being made to ensure the team is competitive in their Week 1 matchup against the Washington Commanders.
Their depth chart is set, but the honor of captainship in this first year of a monumental rebuild remains to be apportioned to deserving players on the Jaguars’ roster. Head coach Doug Pederson commented on this quandary in his Thursday press conference, telling reporters that he intends to let his players choose who among them is worthy of the honor this season.
“I put it on the team actually,” He said when asked if he would be choosing the captains himself. “It’s their choice, and I think it’s important that they pick them. It’s not necessarily me. I stay out of it, and we’re going to go through that process, and I do two offense, two defense, and two special teams captains, five permanent for the year, then I’ll rotate a sixth each week, but those are guys that their peers look up to. There’s a level of responsibility
there. It’ll be good to see who they pick.”
Whomever the honors are bestowed on this season can be expected to be fixtures on all phases of the Jaguars’ game this year, and will almost certainly be considered leaders of the rebuilding franchise.
Some players to watch for at the Jaguars’ Week 1 coin toss are Trevor Lawrence, Christian Kirk, Josh Allen, and Shaquill Griffin. It is unclear who the special teams’ representative might be, but the rotating cast of the team’s sixth captain on a given week will likely be a player who stands out in practice.
With so much potential on Jacksonville’s roster, the honor for that sixth spot will be hotly contested, and should give an indication of which players grow the most over the course of this 2022 season.