News: BTB: 2015 NFL Draft: More College Team Captains In The Draft Than You Think

[NewsBot]

Have you ever wondered how many of the 2015 NFL draft prospects were team captains in college? Wonder no more.

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled "Giants Looked for Leaders in This Year's NFL Draft" noted that five of the seven players the Giants drafted in 2014 were captains on their college teams.

Prior to the 2013 draft, the Atlanta Falcons pointed out that 17 players drafted by GM Thomas Dimitroff were team captains in college.

We know that Jason Garrett and the Cowboys have a fondness for college team captains, and we pointed out that five of last year's nine draft picks were team captains in college (Martin, Hitchens, Street, Gardner, Dixon)

As I set out to write this post, I wondered what being a team captain means. Does it mean you were a regular attendant at Sunday School, put in tons of charity work, and never got into trouble off the field? That probably wouldn't hurt, but I don't think that's a prerequisite either.

What I saw as I did the research for this post is that more often than not, a team captain is one heck of a football player, a guy who plays and practices hard. That's what team captains do. They are the guys who set the pace on the team. They are often among the best players on their team. They are the ones who lead the way in practice. In Garrett-speak, they are the Right Kind of Guys.

That's why every time the Cowboys draft a college team captain, I get all warm and fuzzy inside. And it's also why articles like the two quoted above frequently pop up extolling the virtue of drafting team captains.

Yesterday, in our BTB Mock Draft Tracker, we reviewed ten different players who had been assigned to the Cowboys in ten different mock drafts. In the ensuing discussion, BTB member Old Frog wondered, "Which of these are team captains? We know that's important to Jason and it seems to be working."

An underlying assumption of that question is that college team captains are somehow hard to come by, and drafting them is worthy of special recognition, an assessment I have shared for all but the last 18 hours of my life - that's when I started writing this post.

At the college level, there is no uniform approach to designating team captains.

• Some coaches name their captains; others let their players determine them by a vote
• Some teams name their captains at the start of the season; others name them after the season
• Some organizations select game captains for each game; others have permanent captains
• Some teams have as little as two captains; others have as many as eight captains

With all of that in mind, I set out to answer Old Frog's question, and reviewed all 350 draft prospects with a draftable grade on the CBSSports Big Board to find out how many team captains will be in this year's draft class. The stunning result:

Almost half of the top 350 highest-rated draft prospects were team captains (in some shape or form) during their final college season.

Specifically, 149 players (126 regular captains, 23 game captains) out of 327 prospects were team captains in 2014 (The difference between the 327 and the 350 total prospects is due to programs that only use game captains and for which I couldn't find any information).

That warm and fuzzy feeling about the Cowboys drafting five college captains with their nine picks last year? Gone. 5 of 9 is about par for the course in the NFL draft. In fact, you've got to be a special kind of doofus GM to end up with a draft class completely devoid of any college captains. That's like walking across your lawn and stepping into dog poop not once, not twice, but three times.

Here's an overview of all the 149 prospects that were team captains in college. Keep in mind that there may be more than that number in this draft class, as these were the players I was able to identify, which doesn't mean I got them all. For your convenience, the table is sortable (just click on the blue column headers).

2014 College Team Captains in 2015 NFL Draft

Rank Player School POS Proj. Round 2014 Status​

1

Leonard Williams Southern Cal​

DT 1 Captain
4

Amari Cooper Alabama​

WR 1 Captain
5

Marcus Mariota Oregon​

QB 1 Captain
6

Brandon Scherff Iowa​

OT 1 Captain
11

Landon Collins Alabama​

SS 1 Captain
12

T.J. Clemmings Pittsburgh​

OT 1 Captain
14

La'el Collins LSU​

OT 1 Captain
17

Alvin Dupree Kentucky​

DE 1 Captain
20

Eddie Goldman Florida State​

DT 1 5 x Game captain
26

Cameron Erving Florida State​

OT 1-2 1 x Game Captain
28

Nate Orchard Utah​

OLB 1-2 Captain
34

Ifo Ekpre-Olomu Oregon​

CB 1-2 Captain
36

Owamagbe Odighizuwa UCLA​

DE 1-2 Captain
38

Ty Sambrailo Colorado State​

OT 1-2 Captain
41

Brett Hundley UCLA​

QB 2 Captain
43

Michael Bennett Ohio State​

DT 2 Captain
47

A.J. Cann South Carolina​

OG 2 Captain
48

Tevin Coleman Indiana​

RB 2 Captain
49

Laken Tomlinson Duke​

OG 2 Captain
50

Josh Harper Fresno State​

WR 2 Captain
52

Ameer Abdullah Nebraska​

RB 2 Captain
54

Mario Edwards Florida State​

DE 2 5 x Game captain
56

Reese Dismukes Auburn​

C 2 Captain
57

Clive Walford Miami​

TE 2 Captain
59

Cody Prewitt Mississippi​

FS 2 Captain
60

Xavier Cooper Washington State​

DT 2 Game Captain
61

Nelson Agholor Southern Cal​

WR 2 Captain
62

D'Joun Smith Florida Atlantic​

CB 2 Captain
63

Tre Jackson Florida State​

OG 2 6 x Game Captain
64

Eric Kendricks UCLA​

ILB 2 Captain
66

Anthony Harris Virginia​

SS 2-3 Captain
67

Trey Flowers Arkansas​

DE 2-3 Captain
68

Jamison Crowder Duke​

WR 2-3 Captain
69

Hroniss Grasu Oregon​

C 2-3 Captain
71

Derron Smith Fresno State​

FS 2-3 Captain
74

Tyler Lockett Kansas State​

WR 2-3 Captain
75

Gabe Wright Auburn​

DT 2-3 Captain
78

Denzel Perryman Miami​

ILB 2-3 Captain
80

Rashad Greene Florida State​

WR 2-3 5 x Game captain
86

Josue Matias Florida State​

OG 3 2 x Game Captain
87

Kurtis Drummond Michigan State​

FS 3 Captain
88

Markus Golden Missouri​

OLB 3 Captain
90

ZaDarius Smith Kentucky​

DE 3 Captain
91

Bryce Petty Baylor​

QB 3 2 x Game Captain
94

Doran Grant Ohio State​

CB 3 Captain
95

Andy Gallik Boston College​

C 3 Captain
99

Josh Shaw Southern Cal​

CB 3 Captain
105

Lynden Trail Norfolk State​

DE 3-4 Captain
108

Daryl Williams Oklahoma​

OT 3-4 Captain
109

Grady Jarrett Clemson​

DT 3-4 Captain
111

Justin Hardy East Carolina​

WR 3-4 5 x Game captain
116

Lorenzo Mauldin Louisville​

OLB 3-4 Captain
117

Garrett Grayson Colorado State​

QB 3-4 Captain
120

Jamil Douglas Arizona State​

OG 3-4 Captain
124

Ibraheim Campbell Northwestern​

SS 3-4 Captain
125

Anthony Chickillo Miami​

DE 4 Captain
126

Cedric Reed Texas​

DE 4 Game Captain
129

Jeff Heuerman Ohio State​

TE 4 Captain
133

Louis Trinca-Pasat Iowa​

DT 4 Captain
134

Vince Mayle Washington State​

WR 4 Game Captain
135

Kwon Alexander LSU​

OLB 4 Captain
139

Mike Hull Penn State​

ILB 4 Captain
140

Dres Anderson Utah​

WR 4 Captain
141

Jordan Richards Stanford​

SS 4-5 Captain
142

Ali Marpet Hobart​

OG 4-5 Captain
144

B.J. Finney Kansas State​

C 4-5 Captain
145

Nick Boyle Delaware​

TE 4-5 Captain
147

Charles Gaines Louisville​

CB 4-5 Captain
153

Jalston Fowler Alabama​

FB 4-5 Captain
154

Shane Carden East Carolina​

QB 4-5 Captain
155

Jordan Hicks Texas​

OLB 4-5 Game Captain
157

Stefon Diggs Maryland​

WR 4-5 2 x Game Captain
158

Clayton Geathers Central Florida​

SS 4-5 Captain
159

Austin Hill Arizona​

WR 4-5 Captain
167

Ben Heeney Kansas​

ILB 5 Captain
171

Sean Mannion Oregon State​

QB 5 Captain
172

E.J. Bibbs Iowa State​

TE 5 Captain
173

Shaquille Mason Georgia Tech​

C 5 Captain
175

Terrance Magee LSU​

RB 5 Captain
176

Quandre Diggs Texas​

CB 5 Game Captain
177

Miles Dieffenbach Penn State​

OG 5 Captain
180

Zach Wagenmann Montana​

DE 5-6 Captain
182

Deshazor Everett Texas A&M​

CB 5-6 Captain
183

Damarious Randall Arizona State​

FS 5-6 Captain
186

Justin Manton Louisiana-Monroe​

K 5-6 ST Captain
188

Antwan Goodley Baylor​

WR 5-6 1 x Game Captain
191

Sean Hickey Syracuse​

OT 5-6 Captain
194

Stephone Anthony Clemson​

ILB 5-6 Captain
196

Jake Ryan Michigan​

OLB 5-6 Captain
197

Hayes Pullard Southern Cal​

ILB 5-6 Captain
201

Kenny Bell Nebraska​

WR 6 Captain
210

Damian Swann Georgia​

CB 6 Captain
213

Titus Davis Central Michigan​

WR 6 Captain
214

Imoan Claiborne Northwestern State (LA)​

CB 6 Captain
215

Bryce Hager Baylor​

ILB 6 2 x Game Captain
216

Blake Sims Alabama​

QB 6-7 Captain
217

Derrick Malone Oregon​

OLB 6-7 Captain
219

Malcolm Brown Texas​

RB 6-7 Game Captain
220

Jermauria Rasco LSU​

DE 6-7 Captain
228

Cam Thomas Western Kentucky​

CB 6-7 Captain
230

Davis Tull Chattanooga​

OLB 6-7 Captain
233

Tevin McDonald Eastern Washington​

FS 6-7 Captain
236

Levi Norwood Baylor​

WR 6-7 2 x Game Captain
237

Taylor Heinicke Old Dominion​

QB 7 Captain
243

Devante Davis UNLV​

WR 7 Captain
245

Connor Halliday Washington State​

QB 7 Game Captain
246

Leterrius Walton Central Michigan​

DT 7 Captain
247

Zach Zenner South Dakota State​

FB 7 Captain
250

Casey Pierce Kent State​

TE 7 Captain
251

Jordan Taylor Rice​

WR 7 Captain
253

Byron Jones Connecticut​

CB 7 Captain
254

Travis Raciti San Jose State​

DT 7 Captain
256

Aaron Davis Colorado State​

OLB 7 Captain
259

Cody Fajardo Nevada​

QB 7-FA Captain
260

A.J. Tarpley Stanford​

ILB 7-FA Captain
263

Ryan Russell Purdue​

DE 7-FA Captain
268

Houston Bates Louisiana Tech​

OLB 7-FA Captain
270

Bryce Callahan Rice​

CB 7-FA Captain
272

Brett Boyko UNLV​

OT 7-FA Captain
273

Shane McDermott Miami​

C 7-FA Captain
275

Spencer Roth Baylor​

P 7-FA 3 x Game Captain
281

Jaxon Shipley Texas​

WR 7-FA Game Captain
285

Terry Poole San Diego State​

OT 7-FA Captain
287

Sam Carter TCU​

SS 7-FA Captain
288

Devin Gardner Michigan​

WR 7-FA Captain
290

Jake Waters Kansas State​

QB 7-FA Captain
291

C.J. Olaniyan Penn State​

OLB 7-FA Captain
298

James Rouse Marshall​

DE 7-FA Captain
303

Brian Blechen Utah​

SS 7-FA Captain
304

Mark Weisman Iowa​

FB 7-FA Captain
307

Jahwan Edwards Ball State​

RB 7-FA Captain
308

Hutson Mason Georgia​

QB 7-FA Captain
311

Mitch Morse Missouri​

OT 7-FA Captain
314

Amarlo Herrera Georgia​

ILB 7-FA Captain
315

Andrew East Vanderbilt​

LS 7-FA ST Captain
320

Dean Marlowe James Madison​

FS 7-FA Captain
321

Brandon Vitabile Northwestern​

C 7-FA Captain
325

Zach Vigil Utah State​

ILB 7-FA Captain
328

Cory Morrissey Iowa State​

DE 7-FA Captain
330

Mickey Baucus Arizona​

OT 7-FA Captain
332

Julian Wilson Oklahoma​

CB 7-FA Captain
334

Michael Orakpo Texas State​

OLB 7-FA Captain
335

Kevin Parks Virginia​

RB 7-FA Captain
336

David Andrews Georgia​

C 7-FA Captain
339

DeMarieya Nelson Arizona State​

FB 7-FA Captain
342

Sam Ficken Penn State​

K 7-FA ST Captain
346

A.J. Johnson Tennessee​

ILB 7-FA Captain
347

Wil Baumann North Carolina State​

P 7-FA Captain
349

Ray Vinopal Pittsburgh​

FS 7-FA Captain​

Because the data here was compiled manually, it is bound to contain some errors. Also, I have no data for the players from Cincinnati, Florida, Minnesota, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, so more players may need to be added to this list.

In any case, I'd say that there are more than enough team captains scattered across every round for a team to build a captain-only draft board, if they so wish. However, drafting former college captains is not a cure-all for bad drafting. In 2009, the Cowboys drafted 12 players. Four of them (QB Stephen McGee, OLB Victor Butler, DB Michael Hamlin, TE John Phillips) were team captains in college, but that didn't help that draft class.

Wide receivers lead all positions with 19 team captains, but they are followed by defensive ends and cornerbacks with 13 captains each. That should bode well for the Cowboys, as DE and CB are positions they are likely to upgrade in the draft. And if they want a former team captain to be that upgrade, they have a lot of options.

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