Jerry Garcia

English 15

Zack De Piero

NFL Athletes Instagram Captions

What app do you use the most on your phone? Is it Instagram? Instagram being one of

the biggest social media platforms has a variety of features. People may scroll down the app just

to look at the pictures, but others look deeper the pictures conventions. Captions could be used

for anything. Many people use instagram as a diary and post daily explaining what they’ve done

or what they are planning to do. I have examples from famous NFL athletes such as: Carson

Wentz the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Antonio Brown one of the best wide receivers in the

league, and Cam Newton the Carolina Panthers star quarterback. Conventions present in these

captions are: emojis, hashtags, tags, phrases, and locations. Instagram being an application

means it has some constrictions. Twitter has a character limitation as does Instagram, instagrams

character limit is about 2,200 words. Following up with that because it is an application you need

internet to post your pictures and captions. By analysing the captions from various athletes you

discover the meaning behind the picture.

Cam Newton also known as “Superman” has one of the biggest followings in sports.

Carolina Panthers star quarterback. Heisman trophy winner back in 2010, first overall pick in the

2011 NFL draft, and 2015 MVP. That means he’s good right? What makes him one of the

biggest followings in sports isnt due to his professional career, it is due to his creativity. Cam

took a long break from Instagram deleting all of his pictures and unfollowing many users. He

came back with a post saying “ēvērÿ ñøw äñd thēñ, ÿøū kñøw whät im šäÿiñ' Î M£ÅÑ MØŠT
ØF ør MÅJØRÎT¥ ØF TH£ TÎM£ ÿøū dig ₩£ ÎÑ THÅT MØD£" -fūtūrē

»førMØTÎVÅTÎØÑÅŁūšēØÑŁ¥«❗️ #šhiñēTHRÜthēŠHÅDË

-1ØV£❗️❗️#didŸØÜmiššMË❓” As you can see Cam newton does not use the actual english

keyboard but he uses different types of emoticons and symbols. This is what makes his style very

unique. He reaches out to his audience explaining why he took such a long break from the app,

basically saying that he has been working harder and needed a break from social media. Cam

Newton uses this specific style to lure the reader to read his captions. “Listen the one thing it

makes you do is it makes you focus on what i'm saying.” Newton claims. Most of the time his

captions have some sort of meaning to go along with the picture. In the example I used above, he

posted a picture of him with his shirt off showing that he is toned up and lost about 15 pounds.

People love the way he styles his text that he created an app that makes you type the same way

he does. He called it “I Post My Way” this app give the user the option to change specific keys in

your keyboard to add different visual flairs. Cam Newton isn't the only athlete that has their

unique style on instagram.

Antonio Brown number 84 on the Pittsburgh Steelers known as one of the greatest

football players of this era. Since he is a professional athlete he has a major following on social

media especially Instagram. With over two million followers. Antonio Brown posts almost

everyday and when he does he posts his accomplishments and news about him and his family.

On one of his most recent posts he says “ We all we got, we all we need. ready to roll whenever

you get back with us, family ✊❗️ @leveonbell” with a picture of Le'veon Bell holding him up

after he scored a touchdown. This caption is one of my favorites because of the meaning behind

it. Le'veon Bell one of the greatest running backs in the league is injured for half the season,

Antonio Brown posted this and captioned it with “We all we got, we all we need” said by Eagles
safety Malcolm Jenkins. Even without their star player they still need to try their hardest and get

better. What also made this unique is that he tagged someone “@leveonbell” I saw this because

people don't really tag people in their captions, they do it in the photo. His main point was to say

that he is there for his fellow teammate and brother, and the team is waiting for him whenever he

is ready to come back and play. Antonio Brown mainly meant this post for his teammate Le'veon

Bell.

Which brings us to my final example, Carson Wentz. Philadelphia Eagles star

quarterback, 2nd overall draft pick, the one who gave the Eagles that amazing regular season

record of 13-3. Wentz being a new star athlete has won the hearts of many Philadelphians, with a

following of over one million followers on Instagram. As every athlete he is looked up to as a

role model to many little kids and even some adults. Carson Wentz isn’t like Cam Newton,

Wentz uses this social media as a way to deliver his emotions and blessings with pictures and

captions. “Love this guy and this team! We WORLD CHAMPS! Y’all better believe it! All glory

to God! #AO1 #flyeaglesfly” He posted this two days after the Eagles won their first Super Bowl

in franchise history. The picture is him holding the Lombardi Trophy and handing it off to Nick

Foles who was awarded the Super Bowl MVP. What makes Wentz captions different from

everyone else that I mentioned is the way he uses God. Carson Wentz is known to be a huge

Christian, he uses verses from the bible to also express the emotions he is feeling. For example

when he posted a picture of him proposing to his wife he posted this “She said YES! And now

Maddie and I both got us a ring ❗️❗️ can’t wait to marry my best friend! God is doing some

amazing things and I can’t thank him enough!” Implying that all of this is the lord's plan. Due to

him loving his religion he can connect with others who aren’t just Eagles or sports fans but who

are followers of the Lord. Most of his posts are for the Philadelphia Eagles supporters and for the
media. In the second example he is aiming it towards his followers who like to check up on him

daily. Although if you don’t follow him you wouldn't be able to see his posts on your timeline

while scrolling down.

Due to athlete's grand impact to the the community many use their social media accounts

as a positive reinforcement. As I stated before many little kids look up to them as role models

and an icon. Posting daily shows that the athletes want to show their audience that they are a

huge impact on their lives, without them and their support they wouldn’t who they are today. As

you can see, there are billion of instagram users all over the world. All of their posts have

ancaption and every caption varies from their last one. Cam Newton uses a different variation of

typing his captions differ from a regular user. Everybody’s captions are never the same unless

they copy a quote that goes along with the picture. Why are their captions different from each

other? Each example acts different from a player standpoint and how they are looked up to.

Strengths

● You delivered you evidence great

● You hooked me to your evidence

Weakensesses

● The concept was a little bit too broad

● It has to lead to reasonings from the assigned readings