The Cincinnati Bengals have some new captains for the 2025 NFL season. Some of last year’s captains, like Sam Hubbard (retired), Vonn Bell and Germaine Pratt, are no longer with the team.
This season, last year’s triple-crown-winning wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase will be an offensive captain for the first time in his fifth year with the Bengals. He’ll join quarterback Joe Burrow, guard Ted Karras (Alex Karras‘ great nephew for you NFL historians out there. For television buffs, think Webster‘s dad) and tackle Orlando Brown, Jr.
On defense, the captains are all new. Linebacker Logan Wilson, defensive tackle B.J. Hill and the NFL’s reigning sack leader defensive end Trey Hendrickson will be the team’s captains.
Seeing as how Chase and Hendrickson both got new contracts this offseason and both are first-time team captains, it does make you wonder if the Bengals slipped that into the negotiations. “In lieu of more money, what if we offered you this shiny captain’s “C” to put on your jersey? You’ll be entitled to extra pudding in the team cafeteria and dibs on any unassigned parking spots in the Jungle Jim’s International Market down the block from the team facility. How does that sound?”
Cincinnati Bengals captains will report to Zac Taylor
After Monday’s practice, head coach Zac Taylor said that his team of captains will be is sounding board. These are the guys who will be the conduit between the players and the coaching staff.
“They’re the group that I’m going to call in my office, get their opinion on schedule, my thoughts for the week going into an opponent, issues we may have around the building, in the locker room,” Taylor said.
“They’re the sounding board that I have to be able to trust, and they’ve got to be able to trust me. And they are the first ones I turn to. There’s plenty of people that aren’t elected captains that, over the course of the season, I’ve looked for input from, but this is certainly a group that I start with, and I think it’s a good group of seven guys that I trust, and I think the players made the right call.”
No special teams captain for the Cincinnati Bengals this year
If you do the math, the Bengals opted for four offensive captains and three defensive captains. Unlike last season, there doesn’t appear to be a special teams captain.
Does it sound odd to even have a special teams captain? Well, it used to be. Alex Hawkins of the Baltimore Colts is considered the first player to ever be named special teams – then called the “suicide squad” – captain back in the 1960s. He was originally a running back for them and later was a wide receiver. There are even stories that he was laughed at the first time he introduced himself as captain of the special teams.
Bill Curry, a former teammate and opponent of Hawkins, called him “a great locker room guy, great for morale.” Curry also said Hawkins “was the best open-field blocker I ever faced on special teams.”
If you read this far, you’re now smarter than your friends.
