The New York Giants announced their six captains for the 2020 season on Tuesday as voted by the players.
On offense, second-year quarterback Daniel Jones and third-year running back Saquon Barkley, the Giants’ first round picks in 2019 and 2018 respectively, got the nod. Barkley was an offensive caption lat year along with quarterback Eli Manning and left tackle Nate Solder. Manning retired in January and Solder opted out of the 2020 season citing coronavirus concerns.
The defensive captains will be defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson, a second round pick in 2017 out of Alabama and free agent inside linebacker Blake Martinez, who the Giants signed to a 3 year, $30,750,000 contract in March. Martinez served as a rotating captain in Green Bay last year. The Giants defensive captains last year were safety Antoine Bethea and linebacker Alec Ogletree, who are both no longer with the team.
On special teams, safety/punt returner Jabrill Peppers and former New England Patriots special teamer Nate Ebner will serve as captains. Peppers is known for his all-around athletic ability and played special teams in college at Michigan and with the Cleveland Browns, who he spent his first two NFL seasons with. Ebner is a three-time Super Bowl Champion and former rugby star who played for Joe Judge when Judge was the Pats’ special teams coach. He signed with the Giants this past offseason.
On Monday, Judge was asked what he expected from his captains.
“I think it’s important to me, for the head coach, to have someone who’s a voice of the team that can communicate for everyone in the locker room,” he said.  “I stress to the players, leadership is about doing your job well, it’s about putting the team first, and it’s about being unselfish. You have to be able to bring people with you to actually be a leader. Otherwise you’re just up there giving speeches and kind of rah-rahing. We just preach to the players that make sure you take your time and decide who you want to represent you. It’s not a popularity contest. You’re picking people to represent you when we meet on a weekly basis with the captains.”