The 49ers Name Eight Captains for 2024

It seems like the 49ers' captains essentially are the Cabo Clique -- a.k.a. the players who vacation with Kyle Shanahan in Mexico during the offseason.

Grant Cohn | Sep 5, 2024

Jan 28, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; (Left to right) San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23), tight end George Kittle (85), offensive tackle Trent Williams (71), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19), and linebacker Fred Warner (54), and quarterback Brock Purdy (13) celebrate after winning the NFC Championship football game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have named eight captains for this season. Here they are: Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Kyle Juszczyk, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams.

Technically, the 49ers could have named a ninth captain but head coach Kyle Shanahan chose not to. "It was really obvious who those eight were and the ninth one was too far from it," Shanahan explained. "I'd rather not have so many. But I'm not going to pick when the team votes it that close.”

I'm guessing the ninth captain would have been Brandon Aiyuk but Shanahan vetoed him because the contract negotiation became contentious and seemingly personal. Still, if Trent Williams can be a captain after sitting out for literally the entire offseason, why can't Aiyuk? Both are cornerstone players for the franchise and Aiyuk is a key member of their future. Williams is not.

Also, Juszczyk should not be a captain. He's a good team spokesman during press conferences but he doesn't play enough to warrant this honor. A captain should have to play at least 50 percent of the snaps, and Juszczyk doesn't. He's a part-time player.

It seems like the 49ers' captains essentially are the Cabo Clique -- a.k.a. the players who vacation with Kyle Shanahan in Mexico during the offseason. These are Shanahan's favorite players. His best friends on the roster.

It would be nice to see someone new become a captain. Someone who worked their butt off all offseason and earned the recognition. Someone such as cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, who was the MVP of training camp.

Maybe next year.

Published Sep 5, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.