Eagles name Jalen Hurts and 5 others captains for 2021 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
During Doug Pederson’s final year as Eagles head coach, he took control and simply named captains for the 2020 season.
Nick Sirianni has given that power back to his players.
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The Eagles on Monday afternoon announced their captains for the 2021 season, as voted on by their teammates.
Here are this year’s six:
- Jalen Hurts
- Jason Kelce
- Fletcher Cox
- Brandon Graham
- Rodney McLeod
- Alex Singleton
“Players voted for it,” Sirianni said on Monday afternoon. “That’s just something that everywhere I’ve been players have voted for it because they have the pulse of the locker room for sure. They’re the ones in there. They voted for it. You saw who they voted for. There’s other guys who got votes too. … Those were the six who got the most votes.
“No surprise to me. Those guys have been great leaders since I’ve gotten here and they’ve been great leaders in the past. Really excited for them to lead our football team.”
Here’s a closer look at the players selected:
Jalen Hurts: The youngest player on this list by a huge margin, the 23-year-old is the starting quarterback so he’s a leader by default. But he’s also a leader based on his actions. His teammates seem to gravitate toward him and after watching that all summer, it’s not a surprise at all that he’s a captain for the first time.
Jason Kelce: This is the fourth straight year Kelce has been named a captain. The 33-year-old center is entering his 11th season and is coming off yet another Pro Bowl nod.
Fletcher Cox: Like Kelce, this is also the fourth straight year being named a captain for Cox too. The former first-round pick is 30 now but has made the Pro Bowl in six consecutive seasons.
Brandon Graham: The longest-tenured player on the roster is a captain for the third time in five seasons. The 33-year-old defensive end is coming off his first-career Pro Bowl bid.
Rodney McLeod: This is the second straight year McLeod has been named a captain. He was always a leader since his arrival in Philly but since the departure of Malcolm Jenkins before 2020, has really stepped into a bigger leadership role.
Alex Singleton: The biggest surprise on the list is Singleton, who is a great story. The 27-year-old former CFL all-star had to claw his way back into the. NFL through the Eagles’ practice squad and is now a clear-cut starter at linebacker.
The Eagles began naming captains in 2017. Here’s a year-by-year look:
2017: Carson Wentz, Jason Peters, Malcolm Jenkins, Brandon Graham, Chris Maragos
2018: Carson Wentz, Jason Kelce, Malcolm Jenkins, Fletcher Cox, Kamu Grugier-Hill
2019: Carson Wentz, Jason Kelce, Malcolm Jenkins, Fletcher Cox, Kamu Grugier-Hill/Duke Riley
2020: Carson Wentz, Jason Kelce, Jason Peters, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Rodney McLeod, Duke Riley, Craig James
2021: Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Rodney McLeod, Alex Singleton
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