Eagles name nine captains for 2023 season, adding two new players in addition to seven regulars

The Philadelphia Eagles have added nine captains for the 2023 season, seven of which were the captains on the NFC championship team last season. The two new captains are A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Brown and Smith join Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Darius Slay and Jake Elliott as captains — the latter seven had their roles last season. 

Here are the Eagles nine captains, along with how long they’ve been captains on the team — along with how long they’ve played for the franchise: 

The Eagles started having season-long captains in 2017, the lone year Kelce wasn’t a team captain. Cox became a captain in 2018 (along with Kelce) and never relinquished the role. Hurts has been a captain since becoming the starting quarterback in 2021. 

Based on Brown’s performance in Year 1 with the Eagles, his captaincy shouldn’t be surprising. Brown finished Year 1 with the Eagles setting the franchise record for receiving yards in a season with 1,496, becoming the first Eagles receiver to finish in the top five in receiving yards since Irving Fryar in 1997. 

Brown finished with 88 catches for 1,496 yards and 11 touchdowns in his first season with the Eagles, setting or tying a personal best in all three categories. He finished ninth in MVP voting and was a second-team All-Pro selection. 

Brown passed Mike Quick’s 39-year-old record for the most receiving yards in a season by an Eagles player while he and teammate DeVonta Smith were the only wide receiver duo in Eagles history to each have 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He led the NFL in yards per catch since 2019 (16.5) while also ranking first in the NFL in 50-plus yard receptions (13) and 50-plus yard receiving touchdowns during that span.

Smith also had a huge 2022 season with the Eagles to earn his captaincy for the first time. He had the most catches for a wide receiver in Eagles history with 95, finishing with 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns. He ranked among the top 10 among wide receivers in catches and yards. 

Nine captains may be a lot for the Eagles, yet Philadelphia has a lot of leaders in the locker room. Hard to omit any of these players from the captaincy based on their accolades and accomplishments on the field and in the locker room.