ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- In a vote that smacked of substance over style, the Denver Broncos were clear about wide receiver Demaryius Thomas' standing in the team's locker room.
Thomas -- usually short on bombast and long on performance -- was voted Monday by his teammates as one of five captains for the season.
The other offensive captain is Peyton Manning. So, given that kind of company, even Thomas was a little surprised when the votes were counted.
"I don't know if you all really know but I don't really talk much in front of the team, I like to lead by example," Thomas said with a smile. "But now I feel like I've got a bigger role, so now I've got to figure out what I'm going to do, but I think it'll be fine. ... I'm really honored and to tell you the truth ... I didn't think I was going to be a captain."
The Broncos players showed the strongest voices among them don't always have to be the loudest. The team selected DeMarcus Ware, along with Terrance Knighton, as the captains on defense with David Bruton Jr. the special teams captain for the second consecutive year.
Knighton and Thomas are first-time captains.
"It's just humbling and it's just a good feeling walking around the locker room and knowing you're respected a certain type of way by your teammates being that you're a captain of the best organization in the NFL," Knighton said. "Everybody feeds off you and once you know you have that ‘C' on your jersey, you're almost obligated to do things right and you want to do things right because guys are going to follow and that is not a problem for me. Like I said, I am the same guy every day and guys know what they're going to get from me every day so it's easy for me."
The soft-spoken Thomas has progressed from first-round draft pick with enormous potential in 2010 to marquee receiver in a record-setting offense in this his fifth season.
Thomas has now had back-to-back seasons of at least 90 receptions, 1,400 yards and 10 touchdowns. He's also set to enter the final year of his original contract with the Broncos. The team and his representatives have exchanged proposals in recent weeks to try to hammer out a long-term extension.
Asked Monday what kind of leader he wanted to be, Thomas ran the gamut of those he has seen in the locker room in his time with the Broncos, starting with the Alpha Dog of leaders.
"To tell you the truth, I kind of want to be like Peyton," Thomas said. "I feel like it's going to be hard for me to say stuff, because he's always saying, ‘This is what we need to do to make it better,' or whatever. But I always watched Peyton since he's been here. Before Peyton, I watched a couple other guys. I used to watch Kyle Orton when I first got here because he was my first quarterback. That was about it. You know, Brian Dawkins, Champ Bailey. Champ was quiet, but I felt like he was a leader. Everybody paid attention to him."