Editor’s Note: This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering leadership, personal development and performance through the lens of sports. Follow Peak here.
Richard Sherman played in the NFL for 11 years, mostly with the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers. He now works as an analyst for ‘Thursday Night Football.’
When I played in the NFL, there wasn’t one thing I looked for in a leader. I learned that leaders come in all shapes and sizes, from loud and out front to quiet and just going about their business.
But the one thing I always looked for was consistency. There’s power in consistency. It’s hard to see someone as a leader if you can’t depend on them.
To that point, there’s almost a robotic consistency, an expectation, that you can associate with the four people I picked as the best leaders I played with during my 11 years in the NFL.
Bobby Wagner
The lack of ego with Bobby Wagner is one of the things I admired most about him. He was one of the best, if not the best, players on the team in Seattle. But that was never something that he cared about.
When he first came to the Seahawks in 2012, we were starting to become what we eventually became. He walked into a veteran group with Chris Clemons and Red Bryant and Brandon Mebane. Those big fellas were the guys he was standing in front of in the huddle. They were respected and established.
I remember the first huddle he walked into during OTAs. Those older guys shot so many jokes at Bobby. “Where’s your neck? What the f— are you doing here? This is the best they have to offer? Why the f— did they draft you?”
Oh, my God, it was hilarious. But Bobby just took all the jokes and called the plays. And regardless of how anything ever went, he always kept that mentality: I’m the guy calling the plays, so shut up and listen to what I have to say. He always had a great way of commanding the room and the huddle.
Everybody shut up and listened to Bobby.
Over time, those guys learned to really respect and appreciate him. He got his point across and became the dominant leader and player without ever having to try to assert himself by yelling or anything like that. That was unique.
Bobby is special in the way he leads because he is flexible. He’s like water. Whatever he needs to be is what he is.
Marshawn Lynch
Unique is a cheap word to really describe Marshawn. One of a kind. One-of-a-kind leader. One-of-a-kind player. One-of-a-kind human.
There are countless fires and potential disasters in a locker room. At least in our locker room. And he put them out. He was a peacekeeper. He calmed people.
Guys totally respected him because they respected how he played the game. They respected his honesty and transparency, and they respected his consistency. He’s just 100 percent himself every single day, regardless of situation and circumstance — and that’s enough.
If you ever needed Marshawn, you could call him at 1 o’clock in the morning to come pick you up, and he’s going to come get you. If you’re in the locker room, going through something, and sitting by yourself, he’s not going to walk out of the locker room without saying something.
He didn’t necessarily lead from the front; he almost led from behind and made sure that no one got left behind.
He would step out of the game sometimes to make sure his young backups, like Robert Turbin, got a few carries because he saw how hard he was working. There were times where he pretended to be extra tired or banged up just so the other guys could get carries. I’m 100 percent sure that happened.
He made sure to look out for everybody. If a young guy needed a place to stay, he was going to take care of him. If a young guy was headed in the wrong direction, he was going to grab him and point in the right direction.
Guys appreciated and loved that about him.
Kam Chancellor
Kam is one of the coolest leaders I’ve ever met because I think he saw himself as the opposite of that. I don’t think that was ever his intention.
It’s like the quote Dumbledore tells Harry Potter: “It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”
(For the record, I would have been in Gryffindor, of course).
That quote perfectly embodied Kam. Every step, every moment, every thought was to help the team. There were countless plays on tape where somebody was out of position, where somebody made a mistake, and Kam cleaned it up. He put that pressure on himself every single play. Not just to do his job, but to make sure that everybody else was right.
When somebody plays with the kind of recklessness and selflessness that he did — and when they live with that kind of selflessness — it elevates you and challenges you. It makes you think about what is really pushing you. You feel like you have to meet him where he is.
That’s why you saw a cornerback who was a freaking receiver in college put my pads on people the way I did during my career. That was because of the respect I had for Kam.
The standard that Kam set for us we had to match – or at least we had to do our best within our own power.
Fred Warner
Fred is such a cool story.
I was in San Francisco when he was drafted. He had never really played middle linebacker before. A middle linebacker has a lot of responsibility and a lot on his plate. It’s a big adjustment.
I remember having a conversation with him in the offseason. I was just like: “Hey, bro, you’re a hard worker and a smart player. Do whatever you can to get on the field and make sure you don’t say no to anything. If they want you to play special teams, be the best special-teams player they could ever want you to be. Take pride in everything you do.”
And I remember his answer: “Man, that was my plan coming in. I don’t know if I’m ever going to play linebacker, so I’m going to put my all into whatever they ask me to do every single day, every single play.”
Fred didn’t talk a ton when I was there; honestly, I talked a ton. We had a young defense then, so each day in practice, I was cursing and yelling and frustrated because there was just a standard that they didn’t understand yet. Like, “hey, run to the ball.” Or, “even in a walkthrough, we don’t let them get into the end zone. Have pride.”
I think, initially, I rubbed guys the wrong way. But then they started to understand, and I think he had a turning point where he just understood: This is what it takes. How you do anything is how you do everything.
I say all of this to say: Fred Warner went from a guy who didn’t speak a lot and transformed himself. Through work ethic, through dedication and through learning from other people, he became one of the best leaders.
His teammates respect him because of his play, his preparation, his dedication, his consistency and because of how deliberate he is with all of it.
— As told to Jayson Jenks
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images)
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