Seven Eagles Players Designated Team Captains

As he enters his fifth season as starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts is a leader on the team.

“I don’t think there’s really anybody that can beat him into the building,” RB Saquon Barkley said of Hurts. “And he’s still the last one to leave the building. I think that’s pretty cool when you have a guy who’s that bought in, not just saying that he wants to be great, it takes work to be great. Takes a lot of studying, especially at the position that he is in with the job that he has to do. You want to go to war for a guy like that.”

Given his position and example, one that has been refined over the years, it’s only natural that Hurts be designated as a captain. That’s exactly what happened as the Eagles announced their seven captains today, with Hurts unsurprisingly atop the list. He joins four other offensive players and two defensive players in wearing the “C” patch on his uniform.

Hurts has the most seasons as an Eagles captain, with six seasons as QB1, but Barkley, who joins Hurts as a captain, has seven years of team captaincy when including his tenure with the New York Giants. Voted into captaincy by his teammates, Barkley still approaches the game as if he has something to learn.

“He’s just one of those guys that studies the game,” Running Backs Coach/Assistant Head Coach Jemal Singleton remarked of Barkley. “He studies the history of the game. He’s going back and watching film of former players. He’s always paying attention. He’s always looking at what’s going on and working on things that he can do better.”

As the “dean” of the offense, the longest-tenured player on the team, RT Lane Johnson was also announced a captain by Head Coach Nick Sirianni. Johnson is one of two players on the Eagles’ active roster with two Super Bowl rings, with the other being Kicker Jake Elliott. Earlier this year, Johnson speculated that 2026-27 would be his final season.

“I think Lane is a phenomenal leader. He’s always talking and helping out the younger guys,” Sirianni observed. “I love the connection he has with his teammates and offensive linemen.”

The other two players on the offensive side of the football, LT Jordan Mailata and WR DeVonta Smith, each have a few seasons of captaincy under their belts. Mailata was the Eagles’ Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2025 and has been a captain in each of the last two seasons. For Smith, though, it’s a return to captaincy after losing the title during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Smith, as the top wide receiver in the room, is ready for the challenge.

“That was a challenge that I kind of set to him in the offseason and he was ready for that,” recalled Wide Receivers Coach Aaron Moorehead of Smith’s leadership. “He’s kind of always had it in there. And now it was just time for him to take that last step of just being ‘the guy’ all the time.”

On the defensive side of the football, LB Zack Baun and DT Jordan Davis were voted captains. Davis has put in the effort over the last few years and it shows in his on-field performance, with a big highlight of his being the walk-off field goal block and touchdown return. He was rewarded with his first ever C patch. For Baun, he will follow up his first ever captaincy season last year with the responsibility of wearing the “green dot,” a marking on the helmet that allows him to receive radio communications from the sidelines during the game.

Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio noted that Baun had that role for the first half of 2025 while Nakobe Dean was sidelined due to injury, and he’s confident that Baun will excel at the role.

“Whatever we ask Zack to do, if he’s not good at it right now, he’ll fight through to get good at it.”