Inside The Vikings

Vikings Announce 8 Captains For 2023 Season

Justin Jefferson was named a first-time captain for the Vikings.
Will Ragatz|
Vikings Announce 8 Captains For 2023 Season
Vikings Announce 8 Captains For 2023 Season

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Minnesota Vikings

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell announced the team's eight captains for the 2023 season on Thursday morning:

Offense:

  • QB Kirk Cousins
  • WR Justin Jefferson
  • OT Brian O'Neill

Defense

  • OLB Danielle Hunter
  • S Harrison Smith
  • LB Jordan Hicks

Special teams

  • FB C.J. Ham
  • S Josh Metellus

Cousins, Smith, O'Neill, and Ham were all captains to start last season. Jefferson, Hunter, Hicks, and Metellus replace four departed captains: Patrick Peterson, Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Eric Kendricks.

This isn't a totally new honor for Metellus, who was previously named a captain when O'Neill got hurt in Week 17 last year. The fourth-year special teams ace has earned significant respect within the locker room and will be taking on a bigger defensive role this season as well.

Metellus joins C.J. Ham as a captain on special teams. Those are two important leaders for coordinator Matt Daniels in the third phase of the game.

Defensively, Smith and Hunter are the two longest-tenured players on the Vikings' roster. Both have been mainstays since the early Mike Zimmer days and they will again be among the team's best defensive players in this year's new Brian Flores-led unit. They're joined by Hicks, a vet who immediately took on a leadership role upon joining the team in free agency last year.

On offense, Cousins is the leader of the team by virtue of the position he plays — and that's a role he takes seriously. Kevin O'Connell said he was voted as a captain by every player on the team except for Cousins himself. O'Neill is again a captain, and Jefferson — the face of the franchise and its clear best player — joins them as a first-time captain.

Those eight players will wear the C on their jerseys this year and carry some extra responsibility as leaders on and off the field.

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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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