Chris Kirksey voted Cleveland Browns captain in what is likely his last season with the team. No one deserves it more

The Cleveland Browns players voted for the team captains this year and to no one's surprise, the team voted for Chris Kirksey. A leader since he arrived, Kirksey being voted captain is merely a formality, but who he simply is.

In what is likely to be his final season with the Cleveland Browns, Chris Kirksey was once again voted captain by his teammates. Due to a combination of an escalating contract and declining play due to injuries over the course of the past several years in the face of new talent and the salary cap, it would make sense for the Browns to move on from Kirksey after this year short of a substantial paycut. None of that changes the fact that Kirksey carries a substantial amount of respect and admiration in that locker room as one of the spiritual leaders of the team.

Kirksey has always been a leader. He was two-time captain coming out of Iowa and stepped into the role almost immediately in Cleveland. As much as any player on the Browns, Kirksey has fully embraced being a Cleveland Brown, been a loyal soldier and as loud of an advocate as the team has had, taking the role over for Joe Thomas upon his retirement.

Kirksey, along with Joel Bitonio, are the last remaining players from the Ray Farmer era, which was only five years ago but feels like fifty, especially pertaining to the last time Kirksey was great. The past few seasons, a combination of injuries and poor coaching have made him look so much less than he was when the Browns signed him to an extension in the hopes that he and Jamie Collins would be the best linebacker tandem in the league, becoming the foundation for a Browns turn around.

Not since the Browns were 7-3 under Mike Pettine only to see it slip away in the hands of a spoiled child have the Browns had a chance to be this good and no one knows that better than Kirksey. The team he has so desperately wanted to be successful since he arrived has the chance to be great and he's going to do everything he can to help them get there.

Kirksey shouldn't be counted out, could play far better this year than he has the past few years in part because he's healthy, a little lighter and benefits from a far better coaching staff. But even if he's never more than the ninth best player on this defense, Kirksey's leadership and toughness should ultimately show through. The players on that side of the ball want to win, want to win a championship, but on some level, they probably also want to win with him and for him, knowing what's likely to come next offseason.