Inside The Vikings

Kevin O'Connell Announces Vikings' Eight Captains for 2022 Season

20 players received votes to become a captain, O'Connell said.
Will Ragatz|
Kevin O'Connell Announces Vikings' Eight Captains for 2022 Season
Kevin O'Connell Announces Vikings' Eight Captains for 2022 Season

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Minnesota Vikings

To kick off the regular season, head coach Kevin O'Connell announced the Vikings' eight captains on Monday.

Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Brian O'Neill are the team's offensive captains. Patrick Peterson, Harrison Smith, and Eric Kendricks are the defensive captains. C.J. Ham is the lone special teams captain.

O'Connell said 20 players received a vote to become a captain during the process. These captains were chosen by the players.

It's essentially the same group of captains as the Vikings had last year. The only difference is Kendricks replacing his good friend Anthony Barr, who is no longer on the team.

Smith (drafted in 2012) and Thielen (signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013) are the Vikings' longest-tenured players. Kendricks, who was drafted in 2015, isn't far behind. In addition to Thielen, Ham is also a native Minnesotan who found his way to the Vikings as an undrafted free agent.

Cook and O'Neill were drafted by the Vikings in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

The group of captains also includes a pair of players who weren't drafted by the Vikings. Cousins signed as a free agent in 2018 after starting his career with Washington, and Peterson is entering his second season in Minnesota after a decade with the Cardinals.

All eight captains will be counted on to provide leadership on and off the field in 2022.

Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all offseason long. Also, follow me on Twitter and feel free to ask me any questions on there.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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