National Football League team captains

[3] Some teams (e.g. Pittsburgh and New England under former head coach Bill Belichick) do not use the patch on their jerseys but still designate captains.

However, in 2019 the Carolina Panthers voted Gerald McCoy as a captain for their Week 2 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and affixed a patch to his jersey.

Similarly, London native Efe Obada was voted a team captain for the Panthers' game there in 2019.

In 2019, four teams named seven captains at the beginning of the regular season: the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, and New York Giants.

That same year, the Carolina Panthers dressed seven players wearing captain patches for their week 2 matchup against Tampa Bay: Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, Trai Turner, Luke Kuechly, Gerald McCoy, Kawann Short, and Colin Jones.

Captains are sometimes decided by team-wide vote, and other times are chosen by the team's head coach.

[8] Captains are generally named after the preseason ends, and just prior to the start of the regular season.

In the event of an injury to a team captain requiring them to miss one or more games during the season, a replacement may be named.

One notable example of suspension occurred when the New York Jets ended the use of designated team captains after an incident involving Santonio Holmes in a 2011 game.

In the fourth quarter of the final game of the 2011 season against the Miami Dolphins, Holmes appeared to get into an argument with Jets offensive tackle Wayne Hunter while the team was huddling.

Rex Ryan, coach of the Jets at the time, suspended the captains program for the organization.

[9] In Week 2 of 2018, Bowles resumed permanent captains, introduced when the Jets played the Dolphins.

However, he may, depending on the league or individual team, have various informal duties, such as participation in pre-game ceremonies, the coin toss, the trophy presentation, or other events outside the game.