NY Jets announce their five team captains for the 2020 season

The NY Jets have announced their five team captains for the upcoming 2020 season.

The NY Jets held their first official practice of the 2020 season on Wednesday marking what could essentially be called the start of the regular season.

And as is tradition, the team also announced who their team captains would be for this year. In total, five players were chosen to wear the “C” patch in a player-voted election.

Two offensive players, two defensive players, and one special-teams representative make up the Jets’ five captains in 2020. And while there were a couple of surprises, there were also a few obvious selections.

The Jets’ five captains in 2020 will be quarterback Sam Darnold, offensive tackle George Fant, nose tackle Steve McLendon, safety Marcus Maye, and backup safety Matthias Farley.

Of the five, only Darnold and McLendon return as captains from a year ago. The other five, Kelvin Beachum, Jamal Adams, C.J. Mosley, Rontez Miles, and Demaryius Thomas will all not be with the team in 2020 — Mosley is under contract but not traveling with the team after his opt-out.

The inclusion of both Darnold and McLendon is hardly surprising as both were obvious picks. The same could be said for Maye’s addition which is long overdue. He’ll be tasked with making up for the loss of Adams in more than one way and his captainship is just another example of that.

As for Fant and Farley, their inclusions are a bit more surprising — the former much more so than the latter.

A couple of the choices for the NY Jets’ captains were a little surprising.

Fant was signed in the offseason to compete for the starting right tackle job in camp, although it was never much of a competition. A former swing tackle in Seattle, Fant will be given the biggest opportunity of his career in 2020 as a full-time starter.

And he’s clearly emerged as a locker room leader rather quickly as he was chosen over the likes of Le’Veon Bell, Jamison Crowder, and even fellow offseason addition Connor McGovern to be the other offensive team captain alongside Darnold.

That’s high praise for a player who hasn’t even played a game with the team yet.

Farley’s addition might be surprising to some, but it’s ultimately not shocking. The veteran safety is a key special-teams contributor and played in 13 games with the team last year.

If not Farley, maybe a player like Harvey Langi could have been considered for the role. But Farley is a favorite of special teams coordinator Brant Boyer and clearly a respected member of the locker room as well.

It’s always nice to highlight some of the more notable locker-room leaders on the team and this player-driven vote sheds some light on who the Jets really value as their team captains.