DeForest Buckner, Zaire Franklin, Shaquille Leonard, Kenny Moore II, Quenton Nelson, Matt Ryan and Jonathan Taylor

September 7, 2022

The Colts on Wednesday introduced seven staff captains for the 2022 season: Defensive deal with DeForest Buckner, linebacker Zaire Franklin, linebacker Shaquille Leonard, left guard Quenton Nelson, cornerback Kenny Moore II, quarterback Matt Ryan and operating again Jonathan Taylor.

All seven gamers are broadly revered for his or her affect on and off the sphere, and had been voted captains by their teammates. Here is a bit of about every captain:

Years as captain: 4 (2018-2019 w/49ers, 2021-2022 w/Colts)

Buckner has been a constant presence within the Colts’ “Breakfast Membership” – a bunch of gamers that arrives on the Indiana Farm Bureau Soccer Middle early within the morning to elevate – and is regarded to by a younger defensive position for management. Buckner additionally purchased his defensive position teammates motorized scooters final 12 months to assist get round coaching camp – which he, Grover Stewart and Tyquan Lewis used each day at Grand Park this summer season.

“I believe (management) comes naturally,” Buckner mentioned. “You may’t power something that you just’re not and simply because I do know the kind of position I am purported to have, you do not exit of your means, you gotta do that, you gotta do this. I am simply an open guide. It does not matter who you might be, when you’ve been on the staff, when you’re new to the staff, if we simply picked you up this week, I’ll all the time be there to be an open guide.”

Years as captain: 3 (2020-2022 w/Colts)

Franklin grew from a seventh-round decide right into a core particular groups participant, a key defensive contributor and one of the revered voices within the Colts’ locker room during the last 5 seasons. It is a position he is embraced, and he deeply appreciates the chance to be one of many guys his teammates look to on and off the sphere.

“I maintain myself to such a excessive commonplace of accountability, and I do not suppose I ever ask or demand one thing from someone that I would not demand from myself, that they do not see me do or maintain myself to each day,” Franklin mentioned. “And I consider management as being a servant. When you determine you wish to lead and also you wish to be the man out entrance, you surrender about your self and your complete mentality is to ensure the individuals round you might be profitable, and what are you able to do to the touch the individuals you are round each day and the individuals that you just’re working with.

“I believe for me so far as management, it is all the time simply attempting to assist to get the very best out of men which are round me. Whether or not that is me main by instance, whether or not that is an encouraging phrase if you want it, whether or not that is robust love if you want it when no person else is keen to provide it to you. It is one thing I all the time take private as a result of being a teammate is my favourite half about being within the league, taking part in soccer typically.”

Years as captain: 4 (2019-2022 w/Colts)

Leonard’s mixture of power and playmaking means have made him not solely top-of-the-line gamers within the NFL, however one of many Colts’ greatest leaders. It is inconceivable to overlook the juice Leonard brings, whether or not it is preserving the power at observe excessive, punching a ball out or dancing on the sideline as Jonathan Taylor rips off a 70-yard run.

“He is a novel participant, a novel chief,” head coach Frank Reich mentioned. “He is our emotional chief. We’ve lots of nice leaders. I believe Shaq is a bit of bit extra of an emotional chief for us, a playmaking chief for us. You are feeling that and it is nice to have him. He is huge time.”

Years as captain: 1 (2022 w/Colts)

Moore was named a Professional Bowler for the primary time in his profession final season, and was additionally the Colts’ Walter Payton Man of the Yr nominee. His hardworking journey from being an undrafted free agent waived by the New England Patriots to changing into top-of-the-line gamers within the NFL has earned him the respect of his teammates. And the work he is finished within the Indianapolis neighborhood as he is grown his profile on the sphere has solely added to that respect.

“I might simply say by how he is constant in each space, not solely does he exemplify Walter Payton nearly how his work ethic and his manufacturing on the sphere however Kenny’s a type of individuals who genuinely embraces the neighborhood that he serves,” Franklin mentioned. “He actually impacts this Indianapolis neighborhood and his relationship and his bond with Mason (Garvey) is just simply the proper instance of how he utterly tailored to his surroundings and tried to provide every thing of himself to the neighborhood.”

Years as captain: 2 (2021-2022 w/Colts)

Throughout final 12 months’s “Laborious Knocks: In Season” sequence, HBO’s cameras caught Nelson asking Reich to go along with a “straight run name” within the staff’s Week 12 recreation in opposition to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Reich mentioned he did not contemplate vetoing that clip from operating, because it confirmed not solely how the Colts function – however the type of a pacesetter Nelson is.

“It was a pure management position that Quenton took,” Reich mentioned.

Nelson has helped construct a excessive commonplace on and off the sphere for the Colts’ offensive line since becoming a member of the staff in 2018, serving to push younger gamers and new faces to play “5 as one.”

“Everybody is aware of what nice means he has, however I believe what makes Quenton particular is how good he performs and the way instinctive he’s,” Reich mentioned. “I believe that is what takes his recreation excessive. He is a bodily dominant participant, however it’s his instincts and his intelligence that take him I believe to a different degree. Throughout the recreation, he is a type of guys the place if he says, ‘Hey, this is what I am seeing and feeling,’ like through the years, you return and have a look at the tape and he is all the time proper so far as what he is seeing and feeling. So, you belief him.”

Years as captain*: 7 (2014-2015, 2018-2021 w/Falcons, 2022 w/Colts)

Ryan’s affect on the Colts since arriving in Indianapolis this spring have been as huge as they have been deep. Ask anybody on the staff’s facility on 56th Avenue about Ryan’s management and you will get this reply: “You may simply really feel it.” And the sense of urgency the 14-year veteran has dropped at the staff helped produce high quality, environment friendly work in preparation for Sunday’s season opener in opposition to the Houston Texans.

“You may really feel it,” common supervisor Chris Ballard mentioned. “He is bought an urgency; he is bought an expectation not solely from himself however from others. It is laborious to demand a lot of others when you’re not placing it on the market your self, which he does. Actually, a particular, particular chief and a particular man. Lucky to have him.”

*These are years during which the Falcons introduced full-season captains; Ryan was continuously a recreation week captain in different years.

Years as captain: 1 (2022 w/Colts)

It is not simply that Taylor led the NFL in dashing by 500+ yards in 2021 and was acknowledged by his friends because the fifth-best participant within the NFL final month. Taylor’s dedication to caring for his physique and “pre-hab” remedy, as he calls it, has impressed his veteran teammates. And he does every thing else that comes with being a operating again – like cross safety – at as excessive of a degree as he runs the ball.

“He is an absolute beast,” Ryan mentioned upon arriving in Indianapolis in March. “After I was in Atlanta final 12 months, we performed Buffalo late within the season so preparing for them, we watched one of many video games the place Indy had performed in opposition to them. I used to be like man, they ran the ball fairly properly in opposition to a great protection. So let me pop on just a few extra, perhaps see what they’re doing on offense as a result of center of the season, you guys had been rolling right here. I bought an opportunity to take a peek at what he did final 12 months and he is particular. I actually do suppose he is particular.

“I believe he runs the ball extraordinarily properly, he is bought nice imaginative and prescient, nice steadiness, good pace, good energy, catches the ball properly out of the backfield, keen in cross safety. I had lunch with Quenton (Nelson) and Ryan Kelly at present and so they speak about how he is keen and good in cross safety. I have been round a very long time, you do not get backs that do all of that fairly often and after they do, they’re gamechangers. So, I am fired as much as play with him. I actually am.”

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