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How veterans and alumni play a key role in rookie development for the Bills - BB.com


elroy16

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It was an area that head coach Sean McDermott felt was good but could be improved. Getting the incoming rookies acclimated to the daily approach of how things are accomplished at One Bills Drive required a lot of time and investment. Time that the coaching staff didn’t always have at their disposal.

 

So McDermott, with the assistance of Terry and Kim Pegula, has been able to put together an onboarding program that gets them up to speed quicker and helps them adopt the pro mindset required to succeed more effectively.

 

Everything from leadership panels, where older players on the roster speak with rookies, or former NFL players are brought in to warn of the potential pitfalls through their own personal stories, Buffalo’s rookies quickly come to understand the requirements if they intend to have a successful NFL career.

 

“After going through a tough year last year of just onboarding new players, a new approach had to be undertaken,” McDermott said. “I think the best teams, businesses do it well, but I’m not sure everyone does it. We’re all trying to find the competitive advantage.”

 

After seeing some rookies make some decisions last season that didn’t adhere to the daily growth mindset McDermott preaches, the Bills head coach was determined to put a program in place to get young players to recognize the importance of staying on the right track.

 

“Some guys would rather go to the mall and buy cool sneakers or the latest addition to their wardrobe instead of being here and watching film,” said McDermott. “That’s real. That’s an example of the challenges we face, to get people to drop all that and adopt the habits that lead to winning.”

 

“The first piece of that is educating them on getting focused. Dropping the culture that they came from and the standard they were around at the schools they were at and do things our way and adopt our standard,” McDermott said. “Entitlement is huge in our society and a lot of these players come in and think that they’re owed something. That is one of the biggest obstacles in terms of getting them to learn and be coachable. You’ll hear them say, ‘I got it. I got it.’ No, you don’t got it. You’re going to find out you don’t have it and it’s going to cost this person his job if you take that approach.”

 

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/how-veterans-and-alumni-play-a-key-role-in-rookie-development-for-the-bills

 

 

 

Good article. Sounds like they're putting a lot of pressure on the players to start performing early and often. I like it, find the players that want to work and weed out the rest. 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Limeaid said:

Glad they brought London Fletcher in. He shows that an UDFA who works hard and concentrates on what they need to do rather than just living it up can have a long and productive career.

 

good call bud....:thumbsup:...STILL remember the "fine whine" BBMB yipsters ranting about his "gaudy" tackle stats...."big deal, he tackles a guy 6 or 8 yards down the field after the damage is done"...go figure...

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6 hours ago, Logic said:

I wonder which rookies, other than Foster, were slacking off last year. Could that be an explanation for Siran Neal's almost total lack of playing time?

Cool to see they admit to having issues. and then putting a holistic plan in place for the individual, the player ,and the Team.

 crazy times.

love it !

 Go Bills !

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???

 

Wonder how Rex handled on-boarding?

 

Everyone can benefit from knowing the expectations they must meet or exceed.  Kudos to this head coach for making that crystal clear to the Rookies.  Wonder if the free agents got some similar education on Bills specific culture versus the team they came from?

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They evaluate everything.   They decided they didn't get enough buy in immediately from rookies last year, so they designed some things to do it better this year.   Then they'll evaluate how this year goes and they'll do it a little differently.   

 

Every detail, every day.   It's amazing.   And you have to be a special person to commit to this, day after day, for years, so your team can be special.  

 

If McDermott fails, it won't be from lack of determination. 

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7 hours ago, Logic said:

I wonder which rookies, other than Foster, were slacking off last year. Could that be an explanation for Siran Neal's almost total lack of playing time?

Hyde said yesterday that Neal was overwhelmed last year. Said they simplified things for him n he looks great now

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