South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Tua, Hill among team captains
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, safety Jevon Holland, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, cornerback Xavien Howard, linebacker Elandon Roberts, left tackle Terron Armstead and defensive tackle Christian Wilkins are the Miami Dolphins team captains for the 2022 season, the team announced Thursday.
Roberts is the only repeat from last season. The other six 2022 team captains are first-time selections for the Dolphins.
Tagovailoa’s selection as a team captain is the norm for a starting quarterback, but it didn’t happen last season.
“I think it speaks volumes on where he’s at with the team and their belief in him,” coach Mike McDaniel said of Tagovailoa.
The team captains were selected by player voting. Players accumulate points with each vote and the leading vote-getters are the captains.
McDaniel said Tagovailoa was the “resounding highest point winner.”
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle said he’s happy Tagovailoa was elected a captain.
“He deserves it,” Waddle said. “He’s put in a tremendous amount of work this offseason, came in and had a great training camp.”
Howard is honored to be a captain. “I’ve been here seven years,” he said. “This is my seventh year and finally getting recognition as a captain, it means a lot. I feel like the guys are giving me the respect.”
And, no, Howard didn’t expect the honor.
“I was surprised,” Howard said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, [expletive]!’ “
Another encouraging captain to McDaniel, in addition to Tagovailoa, was Holland, the 22-year-old secondyear player. McDaniel regards the honor as saying something unique about Holland.
“I know it says that’s the makings of a special individual,” McDaniel said. “His football world is in front of him.”
Holland wasn’t very surprised to be named a captain.
“It’s an honor,” Holland said. “It really is. I was a little choked up in the meeting. It felt really good.”
Howard acknowledges and accepts Holland’s leadership even though he’s not always pleased with the timing.
Howard, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, said Holland sometimes yells at him on the field.
“If I’m messing up and I’m not in the spot I’m supposed to be, he’ll say something,” Howard said. “He gets on everybody.”
The most recent time Holland got on Howard was during the joint practice against Philadelphia two weeks ago. But there was that one time during the joint practice against Tampa Bay when Howard’s patience was tried.
“The joint practice at Tampa he got on me,” Howard said, laughing. “I was hot. You mess up and you’re down on yourself, and I was hot and he said something. I was like, ‘Bro, if he says one more thing to me…’ ”
Hill and Armstead are first-year Miami players.
McDaniel seemed genuinely pleased with the results of the captain voting. Perhaps not coincidentally, the captains are among the Dolphins’ best players.
“This is a situation where it’s 100% player controlled,” McDaniel said of the captain voting process, “so all those those captain award winners were bestowed that anointment by their peers, and I think that’s the greatest honor you can have in a team sport, especially the biggest team sport, which is professional football.”