Cowboys Captains: McCarthy's Smart 'Little-League' Way Of Choosing

Dallas Cowboys Captains: Coach Mike McCarthy's Smart 'Little-League' Way Of Choosing

FRISCO - If you've ever coached youth-league football, you recognize the genius in the latest Mike McCarthy change in the way the Dallas Cowboys choose their captains.

Out with the previous administration's supervision (and subtle influence) into the way team captains were voted on at the start of the season and then locked in for the year.

In with ... 

"We will have weekly captains," the new coach said. "There will be three captains that will serve each week. That will be part of our team meeting on Saturday. That's where we'll let the team know who they are."

The upside to the way former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett (and many other teams do it) is worth noting: It's an esteemed honor for seven or so guys. That's nice.

The upside to doing it McCarthy's way - the same way I used to do it when I coached at the youth-league and middle-school levels?

They are many.

This system means ...

*Everybody on the team has a chance to be a captain. Perform well in a game. Perform well during a week of practice. Be inspired because this week the Cowboys are traveling to your old hometown.

It becomes a carrot to chase. And a reward to offer.

*More unity. And fewer cliques. The problem with a designated, locked-in small group of "leaders'' is it can tend to be exclusive rather than inclusive. Same with a "leadership council'' (though McCarthy's Cowboys have that in some form - maybe less formal than Garrett did); Why do only seven or 16 guys get to run things? What happens when you are Leader No. 8 or Leader No. 17? Why shouldn't you get to participate in the practice of leadership?

Said McCarthy: "I feel it's an opportunity for your full roster to experience ... leadership. There's a number of positive factors in my view of doing it that way."

There are also a number of Cowboys who are going to be "leaders'' regardless of whether they are that week's "captains.''  QB Dak Prescott is - by virtue of his personality, intellect and position - is the best example of this. He doesn't need to be designated a "captain'' to "lead.'' Nor do Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyrone Crawford, Jaylon Smith, Ezekiel Elliott, Chris Jones, Everson Griffen, Sean Lee and others.

McCarthy added a wrinkle to all of this, saying that if the Cowboys are playoff-bound, they'll select captains for the duration of the postseason.

There is a trick to the coaching staff manipulating the voting just right, of course, just as there was in youth-league and middle-school football. Coaches, I bet, get the final say in the voting; "My vote counts double,' I used to tell the kids. So maybe in a certain week, when a rookie earns the honor, I make sure his co-captains are veterans. Or when a quiet guy gets it, I make sure a loud guy is alongside him.

All in all, what McCarthy's done here is integrate a weekly "democracy'' into the locker room ... a democracy that is actually being run by the coach himself.