New players are early leaders
While the current NFL offseason has been interrupted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, McDermott did mention one thing as a positive he has seen from his team: new players are already demanding leadership roles.
With the offseason being conducted “virtually” over video chats, the coach said veteran free agent additions haven’t been shy about trying to be leaders in meetings. Some specifically mentioned included defenders Mario Addison, AJ Klein and Quinton Jefferson.
“There’s guys that have asserted themselves from a leadership standpoint a little bit more. What I’ve learned over the years, our Super Bowl year with Carolina in particular, we had some new players, some veteran players that have come in and they really want to, there’s an interesting dynamic in an NFL locker room, very few times will you find a player that comes in right away and really… from a leadership standpoint, that he does everything he can to get right out and lead because there’s such a “earn it” type of mentality in the locker rooms across NFL teams,” McDermott said.
“Fast forward to this year, I’ve been impressed with how a couple of our guys who are new to our team have really asserted themselves,” McDermott added. “When you can do that, that really speaks of our culture and speaks to who these individual players are and their DNA.”