Falcons name their five team captains

If you can’t tell from the picture, that’s Matt Ryan, Grady Jarrett, Deion Jones, Jake Matthews, and Calvin Ridley — also known as the five best players on the Falcons roster.

Sometimes coaches hand out these duties to high-profiled rookies or ra-ra guys who are always voice-tress in the locker room, but the Falcons’ reasoning is clear. These are the best players at their particular position groups. As noted by Arthur Smith, the players voted. So not only are these the best players on the team, their peers see them as their leaders. Like it has been with everything since Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot, captain duties will be earned, and all of these nominations are well-deserving.