Buffalo Bills name long snapper among 8 team captains
For Buffalo Bills players and players around the league, one of the biggest honors short of winning an award is becoming a team captain.
Being a captain is an acknowledgement of a players' leadership by the coaching staff. It also motivates other players to give their full effort to potentially become a captain someday. That said, is giving a leadership position to an incognito long snapper the best option?
According to Bills Wire, the Buffalo Bills have finalized the selection of all their team captains for 2021. Here's a look at why the Bills may have selected each of the eight players to be their team captains this year, in order of least obvious to most.
Buffalo Bills team captains in 2021
#1 LS Reid Ferguson
The reason the Bills selected a long snapper to be their team captain is a strategic move. The move is less about Ferguson and more about showing they are paying attention to every position and every depth piece.
They want players to believe that if they work hard, they can earn it. That creates an incentive for every player to put forth their 100% and buy into the program.
#2 LB Tremaine Edmunds
Tremaine Edmunds is the starting middle linebacker for the Bills. Middle linebackers are traditionally positions of leadership. Middle linebackers often serve as the quarterback of the defense, so their leadership skills are a tangible requirement for the position. Edmunds shows that on and off the field, giving the coaches plenty of reason to choose him as a team captain.
#3 LB Tyler Matakevitch
Tyler Matakevitch is Tremaine Edmunds' backup. Therefore, it makes sense for him to be a solid leader for the defense in addition to Tremaine Edmunds. To prove that, the Bills gave him the benefit of the doubt by establishing him as a leader of the team.
#4 RB Taiwan Jones
Taiwan Jones is the fourth-string running back for the Bills. By choosing him as one of the captains, the Bills showed that they are looking closely at each position group. If they only gave the long snapper a spot as a captain, players may have said that the Bills only gave him the honor to show they care for that position only.
However, by also picking fourth-stringer Taiwan Jones, that perception goes out the window. It goes much further than that to have two low-visibility players on the team of captains.
#5 S Jordan Poyer
Jordan Poyer is far away from the game as a player who spends most of his time deep in the backfield. By adding him to the list of team captains, it could engage him more on game day and keep him on his toes and active on every snap.
It could also be a reward for his outstanding play with the Bills, coming off a season with a 75.2 PFF grade.
#6 S Micah Hyde
At almost 31, Hyde is already a leader for the team as a long-term veteran in the NFL. As a result, it only makes sense to make that expectation a bit more formal with a captain designation. It also doesn't hurt that he's coming off a year in which he earned a 68.7 PFF grade.
#7 WR Stefon Diggs
Stefon Diggs is one of the most important players in the team. Without Diggs, the passing game could easily be half of what it is. So that makes sense to reward one of the best players in the team with an extra patch on his jersey on game day.
#8 QB Josh Allen
Josh Allen is the biggest player-leader in the team. Pre-Josh Allen, the Bills were a franchise shoe-horned into a top-ten pick almost every year. If Allen were not a team captain, it would have raised a few eyebrows. However, as a team captain, it only makes Allen's duties as a leader much more legitimate.