Strange Captains Talk From Todd Bowles
September 3rd, 2023
While which players are named team captains may matter little, sometimes who isn’t captain or why coaches trying to manipulate their teams’ captaincy is important and telling.
Typically, NFL teams let players vote on who will be named team captains for the season. That usually happens on or before Labor Day, prior to opening-day preparations. The captains usually are two guys on offense, two on defense and one for special teams.
Sometimes a head coach will name his own captain to supplement the players’ choices.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is thinking he might start the season without captains, he said Thursday.
“Probably no time soon,” Bowles said of choosing captains. “It’s a little early right now. It may go by committee for a couple weeks and see how it goes, and then I may name some or I may let them vote on it. We haven’t discussed it yet.”
Joe finds this Bowles answer highly suspect, especially on a team with a ton of rookies and young players — and several Pro Bowlers and Super Bowl champs.
The Bowles comments invite a lot of speculation.
Did Bowles’ answer have something to do with Mike Evans’ contract squawking, considering it’s a near lock that Evans would win a captains vote?
Is Bowles afraid Baker Mayfield would not be named a captain, so Bowles wants to make sure he is one? Or is it the opposite? Does Bowles not want Mayfield as captain because the team plans to turn to Kyle Trask in Week 6 if the Bucs struggle prior to their Week 5 bye?
Could this be a Devin White thing? Joe is confident White would be voted captain, but maybe Bowles wants to be sure?
This all feels odd to Joe. Does Bowles not trust his players? And if you can’t pick captains before Week 1, then why have them at all?
Joe knows some college teams vote on captains every week, but that seems too goofy for an NFL team.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:11 pm
Heck, I’ll name the Buc’s Captains his year.
Crunch, Sparrow, Kangaroo and Kirk.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:14 pm
Bowles is an idiot and I think we’re going to find that Tom Brady was holding this team more together last year than people realize. The two obvious choices are Mike Evans and Lavonte David as they have been here the longest with proven track records. Bowles needs to get his house in order before his ineptitude bleeds into the season.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:20 pm
Pick your captains and be done with it.
If the time comes they need to pick new captains because of a trade or benching so be it.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:28 pm
Thie means some change is coming.
Wither a demotion, trade, or hold out.
Or the high likelihood of one of those. Could it be that lavonte David is more a package player this year? Could it be that evans is being punished for being a distraction?
This is not nothing.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:31 pm
#13 and #78 on offense #54 and #31 on defense and then 2 ST captains.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:33 pm
That is funny Wyoming Joe.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:45 pm
Could be a strange season. But as always, go Bucs.
September 3rd, 2023 at 11:56 pm
Just another example of Todd marching to the beat of drum no one else can hear
Dude is CLUELESS is so many areas and this is clearly one
I can name the captains right now and don’t need baker or Mike and every kid on the team and every veteran tunes right in
Wirfs
Godwin
LVD
Winfield
Let’s roll boys
Todd is a dunce
September 4th, 2023 at 12:23 am
Something weird is going on behind the scenes at One Buc… lots of strange symptoms.
September 4th, 2023 at 12:24 am
They have some obvious leaders…Lavante David for example.
Maybe they want to see if any of the younger new players step up.
But that comment about week 6 does make sense.
September 4th, 2023 at 1:07 am
He obciously doesn’t want to rip the C off his best player just yet.
Ohh the intrigue!
Go Bucs!
September 4th, 2023 at 1:16 am
Very weird.
Bowles capabilities as a head coach continued to be a question mark.
September 4th, 2023 at 1:50 am
I always thought that team captains was a silly idea. No decision-making role; strictly ceremonial. Coaches captain the team. Your leaders on the team don’t need an emblem on their chest for their teammates to identify them.
September 4th, 2023 at 4:32 am
The Bowles Curse
September 4th, 2023 at 4:43 am
It’s seems weird because it is. he’s just an oddball. He is just not head coach material or a good head coach at all. Rotating captains is as ridiculous a rotating players on the offensive line
September 4th, 2023 at 5:18 am
Bowels makes the simple things difficult and that ultimately comes back to bite him in the a**.
The Bucs mgt and coaching staff drag non issues out so long that become issues (i.e the secrecy w/Jensens injury last year). I hate how they deal with their fan base, its like they treat us all as children with the just “trust me I know what im doing” kinda vibe. Do you really?
Im so over Bowles as head coach and his weekend at Bernie’s energy level.
September 4th, 2023 at 6:58 am
Asleep at the wheel.
September 4th, 2023 at 6:59 am
BucFan 81, Tom holding the team together? Like when he skipped camp for a two week vacation? How about when he skipped travelling with the team to attend Kraft’s wedding? He was some captain last year, really set a good example.
September 4th, 2023 at 6:59 am
If this team blows up this year I’ll blame the Glazers.
September 4th, 2023 at 7:18 am
Name the Captains and move on.
September 4th, 2023 at 7:23 am
A Bucs Fan Says:
September 4th, 2023 at 6:59 am
If this team blows up this year I’ll blame the Glazers.
And I am sure they will be all busted up about that, they got forced into a diversity hire that they couldn’t just fire right away……. hand were and until after this year are tied.
September 4th, 2023 at 7:35 am
As I said yesterday, I’m concerned about discord on the team heading into Week 1. First it was White. Then Evans. Now no Captains. Where’s the unity? I’m starting to think the pundits may have it right when they say the Bucs will stink this year. But, if they do, it won’t be because of a talent deficit. It will be because they’re not playing with purpose as a unit. Just a bunch of key players looking out for their own interests.
September 4th, 2023 at 7:50 am
Can we just agree Bowles is a strange cat? Great story that he’s a former member of the Washington Redskins ( that was the name then of course ) Super Bowl winning team led by Doug Williams. He was also a solid defensive coordinator minus the Copper Kupp check moment of 2021…costing the Bucs & Brady who knows what ( Super Bowl ? ) But he backed into this job ( love ya BA…but you screwed us here ) and doesn’t have the emotional intelligence to lead an NFL team as a head coach. He says some of the most idiotic stuff…early and often. Even the players ( including Mike Evans ?) must be wondering WTF. This is likely it for Bowels, Baker and ( sadly ) Barrett ( hope not with him however…worked for the “B” theme though ).
September 4th, 2023 at 8:19 am
The way things are looking this season, Captain Morgan might be the best choice.
September 4th, 2023 at 8:36 am
@ Mike C – I get that BA forced their hand either purposefully or due to health reasons…. Probably both. However I don’t agree with the spineless reasoning you added that they are somehow tied and forced to do anything because of optics and the prevailing social vision of the day.
Absolute cowardice if true.
September 4th, 2023 at 9:29 am
You would think Bowles would have gotten better in his 2nd coaching stint but he has gotten worse. Man this dude reminds me of Lovie STUBBORN
September 4th, 2023 at 9:32 am
Todd does not want Bakers’ wittle feelings hurt.
September 4th, 2023 at 9:42 am
This smells like trade or contract talk is going on.
Still seems like a silly reason not to vote on captains.
September 4th, 2023 at 10:10 am
In third world country’s the regime will not hold elections unless they are sure they control the outcome. In a court of law a lawyer will never ask a question he doesn’t already know the answer to. Moth maxims apply here.
Translation: Bowles fears the results.
Up until now I’ve felt we would win this division. I realize this seems like a moot and very small matter. I know coaches supposedly control the team. However, the men on the field always have peer leaders amongst themselves, however informal, that lead the troops behind the scenes. This is not unlike being in battle to a degree. General Halftrac gives the orders from his office, but Sarge leads the men on the field.
This is a bad omen…bad juju. I’m not so sure we beat Minnesota anymore.
September 4th, 2023 at 10:36 am
Classic. Example of sweating the small stuff and creating unnecessary drama. However u did captains last year…do it again. If a captain gets traded/demoted down the road….deal with it then. His inability to make a decision nor being able to talk his way out of it is, as theybsay in Spain, no bueno.
September 4th, 2023 at 10:43 am
I see how split things are on this site and the locker room could be split just as much.
They have been eye witnesses to the QB Competition. Watched the 94 yard drive with the 1’s. Seen a QB lower his big body and take on DB’s for a first down and move the chains. Seen TD’s end up in Field Goals because of penalties. Gotten IM’s from their friends in the league with a #bmayfield WTF or SMH. I’m sure they are just as divided on that one. They’ve seen tape. It’s not a Democracy so their vote does not matter.
Be pretty ironic if Baker wins the starting job but gets 1 less Captains vote than Trask.
September 4th, 2023 at 11:02 am
4 straight losing seasons on this guys resume and people still wanna act like he’s got it in him to get above .500. He’s just not HC material. If he can’t win with Tom he can’t win with anyone, and long term the loyalty Bowles has been afforded will hurt the franchise more than it helps. That’s why all this talk about being reasonable about ME13’s contract situation from you guys is so crazy. Glazers all of a sudden wanna be all business with a HoFer but Bowles is afforded misplaced loyalty bc he coordinated one SB defense. Insane decision making.
September 4th, 2023 at 11:31 am
Now I defend bowels a lot but this is confusing and it has me worried. @joe have you ever recalled a captain being traded away mid season? Because if devin and mike are captains this is screaming mid season trade 🥹🥹
September 4th, 2023 at 11:33 am
Let me guess he’s naming the captains after week 4 🤬🤬🤬🤬
September 4th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Teams certainly have traded away team captains before. I can’t remember any specific examples, but it has happened.
September 4th, 2023 at 12:52 pm
Teams certainly have traded away team captains before. I can’t remember any specific examples, but it has happened.
September 4th, 2023 at 2:04 pm
Bowles is a leader of 11 not 53 let that sink all the way in
September 4th, 2023 at 2:06 pm
bowles is just Not HC material ….
September 4th, 2023 at 3:52 pm
So everybody knows why no captain has been named, because Bowles is clueless, a coach who has been in more locker rooms than us on the thread combined. I will not speculate, but will hope it has something to do with chemistry
September 4th, 2023 at 4:23 pm
Bowles is mash potatoes without gravy.
And we need steak at the HC position.
The team (unfortunately in this case) takes on the personality of the HC.
And our HC lacks passion and fire, and he lost his playcalling mojo ever since the Rams loss to end our 2nd TB Sb run.
This team will have to overcome Bowles instead of being propelled by him, like you would normally hope for in a coaching situation.
*sigh*
LFG, Bucs. You gotta bring it extra to make up for Bowles’ lack of passion out there!
September 4th, 2023 at 4:25 pm
Lovie 2.0
September 4th, 2023 at 4:27 pm
Fire Bowles, promote any of our coaches who has the most passion and keep all of our other position coaches intact and we can prob do some good things this year….
September 4th, 2023 at 6:58 pm
Erik Hesson Says:
“Fire Bowles, promote any of our coaches who has the most passion…”
.
.
Nice idea, but if passion were all that was needed to make a good head coach, Michael Singletary would have been most successful.
September 4th, 2023 at 8:48 pm
I hate to say it but my guy Bowles struggles as a head coach. Naming a QB & captains shouldn’t go the way he has made it. YOU NOT NAMING CAPTAINS ON TEAM FULL W/ VETS & YOU BEEN APART OF FOR YRS!!!!!! Stop it right now!
September 8th, 2023 at 10:14 am
Its because they know Baker will fail then will name Trask captain