Harbaugh Names 8-Player Giants Leadership Council
The group, elected by teammates and modeled on a system Harbaugh ran in Baltimore, is separate from traditional game-day captains, which the Giants haven't named yet.
John Harbaugh met with an eight-player leadership council after Monday's practice, according to Newsday's Evan Barnes, who was on-site. Harbaugh has run a similar group since his Baltimore Ravens days.
The council: Andrew Thomas, Jaxson Dart, Jevon Holland, Jordan Stout, Brian Burns, Jameis Winston, Tremaine Edmunds and Chris Manhertz. Harbaugh said the players were elected by their teammates — four on offense (Dart, Thomas, Winston, Manhertz), three on defense (Burns, Holland, Edmunds) and one on special teams (Stout, the punter). “There were a lot of other guys that got votes too but those were the guys that got the most votes,” Harbaugh said.
The meeting was mostly about schedule logistics and “in-house stuff” — the same practice day Malik Nabers returned to full team drills for the first time since tearing his ACL last season.
The structure carries over from Harbaugh's Ravens teams, which had Hall of Famers Ed Reed and Ray Lewis setting the tone, according to Newsday. Holland was a longtime captain with the Dolphins before signing with the Giants last year. Stout made the All-Pro first team last season with the Ravens. Edmunds has settled in at middle linebacker since signing with the Giants this offseason.
Harbaugh said the council isn't the only leadership he wants to see on the team. “I do try to emphasize to the team that everybody's a leader and everybody has every opportunity to speak their mind,” he said.
The council is not the same as the Giants' traditional single or game-day captains, which have not yet been named. Art Stapleton of NorthJersey/The Record, independently corroborating the council meeting and roster, reported he'd still expect the Giants to designate game-day captains separately. Last year, the Giants named five captains by player vote on Sept. 2, 2025 — five days before that season's opener against Washington.