Buccaneers announce captains, including "rotating sixth captain"

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have announced their captains for the 2016 NFL season: Lavonte David, Gerald McCoy, Jameis Winston, Vincent Jackson and Russell Shepard (special teams). As usual, this is presented as the result of player voting.

Weirdly, the Bucs also introduced the concept of a rotating sixth captain. Every game will have a different sixth captain. For Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons, that captain will be Joe Hawley.

Of course, the whole concept of captains in the NFL is a bit...weird. A team can name as many or as few as it likes. They don't have any designated responsibilities or roles. The only thing players actually get out of it, is the right to have an extra patch stitched onto their uniforms. Whoop-ti-doo.

That fact won't stop people from overanalyzing the hell out of this stuff, including the fact that Clinton McDonald was a defensive captain last year, and isn't now. It matters not. It has no actual impact. It won't stop non-captain leaders from leading, nor will it turn captains who aren't really leaders into actual leaders.