SANTA CLARA – What’s a captaincy worth in the NFL?
The perks include a fancy ‘C’ patch on your jersey and a chance to trot out to midfield for the coin toss. You get the votes of confidence from your teammates, too, but it’s otherwise just a nice gold star for adults in football pads.
Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that Trey Lance isn’t among the six captains on the 49ers to open the season. Coach Kyle Shanahan announced Wednesday that veterans Trent Williams, George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Jimmie Ward and Arik Armstead were voted by the players to be team captains this season.
“Obviously, that’s a goal of mine,” Lance said. “But I don’t think you can look at any of those six guys and be like, ‘That guy’s a bozo.’ Because all of those guys have played football at a high level. Situations are different. I’m excited. I voted for every single one of those guys.”
It’s hard to argue against any of the six captains, as Williams, Kittle, Bosa and Warner are arguably the best players at their respective positions. Ward is the longest-tenured player on the 49ers, as he enters his ninth season. Armstead anchors the defensive line and has been the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for two straight seasons.
Truth be told, Shanahan listed off seven names when revealing the captains, as Deebo Samuel’s name slipped out of his mouth, too.
“If you look into it that much, he was seventh in the voting,” Shanahan said. “I just didn’t want to put seven on there. Deebo was eight, that's why I mentioned his name on accident. We just wanted to go with six. They don't allow eight to the coin toss, I don't believe. It's also his first year of starting for us. There's not many rookies who end up being the captains. I know this is his second year, but he's a rookie for us in terms of this is his first time being our starting quarterback.”
Ultimately, this is just pre-Week 1 fodder as Lance gets ready to take over the reigns of the offense for the first time. But looking at the five quarterbacks who were selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, the No. 3 pick Lance is the only one who hasn’t earned a captainship yet.
The No. 1 pick, Trevor Lawrence, and No. 2 pick, Zach Wilson, earned the honor out of the gate as starters last season for the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets, respectively. No. 11 pick Justin Fields, who will lead the Chicago Bears against the Niners on Sunday, and No. 15 pick Mac Jones of the New England Patriots were named team captains on Tuesday.
Shanahan doesn’t care, though. He’s confident in Lance heading into his first test as undoubted QB1.
“Trey is in as good a spot as I've been around him,” Shanahan said. “He's confident, had a good camp, got as many reps as he has ever gotten before. Has been thrown in a ton of tough situations, some good situations and now it's time to go play.”
Lance made two starts and took over at halftime to accumulate 10 meaningful quarters of action in his rookie season. He’s leaning on that experience heading into this fall.
“I mean, real similar to I guess the weeks that I did start last year from a preparation standpoint,” Lance said. “But, it’s great to have those guys in the room, great to have Jimmy (Garoppolo) in the room to help bounce ideas off of. But yeah, it’s been awesome.”
