Raiders announce 2018 team captains

The Oakland Raiders have announced their team captains for the 2018 season. There are some familiar faces that will be wearing the captain “C” on their chest as well as some first timers.

The trio of Derek Carr, Rodney Hudson, and Reggie Nelson were chosen as captains for the third consecutive year. Newcomers receiving the honor include Bruce Irvin, Derrick Johnson, and Kyle Wilber.

With the loss of Khalil Mack this defense now belongs to Bruce Irvin so he was an obvious choice. Irvin demonstrated the qualities of a captain early in the offseason program, taking rookie Arden Key under his wing as his protege.

Derrick Johnson has plenty of experience in the league and many of the young players on defense will lean on him for his knowledge. Johnson has been a high character guy throughout his career, the Raiders are hoping he still has some gas left in the tank.

Kyle Wilber, one of the 29 new members of the 53-man roster joins the Raiders after spending six seasons in Dallas. Wilber will captain the special teams unit for coordinator, Rich Bisachia who brought him over with him as a free agent from the Cowboys this offseason.

“It’s a great honor to have the approval of all these guys in here, so I just hope I can live up to it,” said Wilber.

The Raiders open the 2018 season in the back end of a Monday night football doubleheader. The Raiders vs Rams is set to kickoff at 7:15 Pacific (10:15 ET).