Steelers players voted; 2016 captains named

The Steelers selected four players to serve as team captains for the 2016 season, the team announced through a vote of their teammates today.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will serve as the offensive captain, CB William Gay and DE Cameron Heyward will serve as the defensive captains, and safety Robert Golden will serve as the special teams captain, first sited at Steelers.com.

Roethlisberger has been selected as an offensive captain for the eighth time in his career (2008, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15 and ‘16). Golden’s third consecutive year as a captain says a lot about his leadership on ST’s, and the 2nd for Gay and Heyward. I would have liked to see DL James Harrison, possibly in his last season as a player, made honorary captain of ST (he was captain in 2007), to show him his mentoring abilities have been a godsend to these younger players.  Also, a surprise was not seeing WR Antonio Brown as one of the Offensive team captains with Ben. Not just his production on the field, his stop gap new contract, but the work ethic this guy has should have captured a vote for captain.

Head coach Mike Tomlin’s tenure has seen Hines Ward, James Farrior and Troy Polamalu as captains, but his one constant has been Big Ben, with his leadership on the field and in the locker room for these guys, his value increases every year. You can see the respect he has earned from his teammates and coaches.

Heyward and Gay, are the production guys, and on defense, when mic’d up, you can hear them encouraging, rallying, giving direction, and getting in the face of any player not stepping up. If Pittsburgh plans to get to that elusive 7th Lombardi this year, we will need every captain and player to step up their game in 2016.