The Jets are heading into 2026 with a fresh set of captains, and this time they’re keeping it to six.
New York announced its team leaders for the upcoming season on Wednesday, splitting the group by unit: Joe Tippmann and Geno Smith on offense, Harrison Phillips, Demario Davis and Minkah Fitzpatrick on defense, and Isaiah Williams on special teams.
our 2026 team captains
- New York Jets (@nyjets) September 3, 2026
The list comes with a couple of mild surprises, mainly Tippmann and Williams. Smith, Phillips and Davis all felt like safe bets from the start of the offseason.
What stands out just as much is who isn’t back from last year’s captain group. The Jets had named Justin Fields, Garrett Wilson, Quinnen Williams, Jamien Sherwood and Marcelino McCrary-Ball as captains ahead of 2025.
Fields and Williams are gone now, and neither left much of a case for being brought back into that role. Fields struggled once things got difficult at quarterback and later declined to take even a limited offensive role late in the season. Williams, meanwhile, had reportedly wanted a trade all summer.
Sherwood’s situation is a little different. He earned a major payday before the 2025 season, but his play didn’t match the expectation, and he was even benched during the year. With less on his plate in 2026, the Jets will be hoping for a better stretch from him.
The biggest omission is Wilson. After serving in a leadership role last season, he’s not on the captain list this time. That’s the one choice that really jumps off the page.
Still, the Jets clearly believe they’ve got the right mix in place. Phillips, Davis, Fitzpatrick and Smith all bring plenty of mileage and have been through winning environments before. For a team trying to settle in for 2026, that kind of veteran presence is the whole point.
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