Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney and midfielder Daniel Giansiracusa, the man who stood in for Boyd's predecessor Brad Johnson while he was injured last year, will share vice-captain duties.
Midfielder Daniel Cross, rising star Shaun Higgins and veteran Robert Murphy were the remaining candidates considered for the role.
For a former rookie-listed player with a low profile, Boyd has tallied a fair list of accomplishments.
The 28-year-old has finished in the top four of the club best and fairest in the past four seasons and won the award in 2009. He was named in the All Australian team in the same year.
Last season he finished sixth in Brownlow Medal voting, polling 20 votes and leading the club in the count. Now he is the club's 32nd captain.
Having made his debut in round seven, 2003, at the age of 19, Boyd eventually cemented his spot in 2004, playing 19 games.
He then reeled off 107 consecutive games between round 16, 2005 and round five, 2010. A broken hand forced him out for just two games before he returned to the fray in round seven.
Boyd worked hard to establish himself having shown his talent as a junior with the Narre Warren Football Club in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs.
He played in a premiership there with current Tigers skipper Chris Newman and Fremantle’s Adam McPhee before joining the Dandenong Stingrays and then made his way from the Frankston reserves in the VFL to the Bulldogs.
Boyd's appointment creates a leadership quirk in that six AFL captains of Victorian-based clubs played at three junior clubs (Cameron Ling and Nick Maxwell - St Joseph's Football Club, Chris Judd and Jobe Watson - East Sandringham and Chris Newman and Matthew Boyd - Narre Warren).
