Eagles Announce 2019 Captains

Embed from Getty Images

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Earlier today, the Philadelphia Eagles announced their team captains for the 2019 season.

The team faced a very rough road in 2018 and still managed to make the playoffs and even win in the wildcard round. The team fell one drive short of advancing to the conference championship game.

The Eagles players took notice of that an not a single captain from that season has changed.

All five of the captains were on the team when the franchise claimed their first Super Bowl championship.

Carson Wentz will get the nod for the third year in a row. There was really no question about that as Wentz is the unquestioned leader of the offense and is expected to be for decades to come. He was on track to win the MVP award prior to his knee injury in 2017 and put up above average stats despite his still recovering from the ACL/LCL injury and a back injury. Expect him to return more to the player he was in 2017 with health.

Malcolm Jenkins returning for his third year as a captain should also come as no surprise. Jenkins leads this defense and has been key to helping develop the glut of young talent that the Eagles now have in the secondary. He played four different positions for the Eagles in 2017 in addition to all the off the field motivation and team building he provides. He was not able to be utilized around the field in 2018 after Rodney McLeod went down and the team had a corner start playing safety for the first time. This is a big year for Jenkins, who is likely in search of a new contract.

The captain of the front seven this year will again be Fletcher Cox. Cox has no issue pulling his teammates aside and telling them to focus on the game rather than things like blown calls. He struggled to do much in 2018 as he was really the only defensive tackle the team had that could affect much of anything for almost the entirety of the season. He should have a big year this year (or at least the overall defensive tackle rotation should) with the new additions at the position.

Jason Kelce will serve as the second captain for the offense. He was the best lineman on the best offensive line in football in 2017 and was again the top interior lineman in 2018. He endeared himself to the fans and team alike with his speech following the Super Bowl Parade and will help lead the offense with Wentz this season. Perhaps the newest thing to see from Kelce in 2019 is his assistance in the development of undrafted rookie Nate Herbig, a guard who was made the second-team center this offseason.

The final captain (the captain of the special teams unit) is Kamu Grugier-Hill. Grugier-Hill has been known for his special teams play since 2017. In 2018, he really stepped up his game on defense, playing as a starting linebacker despite a broken finger early in the season. Kamu is expected to miss a few games early this season, but he will absolutely be on the sidelines to inspire his teammates.

The team will also have a sixth captain each week that will be chosen by head coach Doug Pederson.