Chiefs safety Deron Cherry talked with 810 WHB's Soren Petro on The Program today. He had some interesting things to say (he has a charity golf tournament tomorrow at Loch Lloyd) about the make-up of successful football teams.
"I think it's very important to winning football games," Cherry said of having high-character players. "I played with a lot of guys and some had it and some didn't.
"You want to play with guys that have character because you don't have to worry about them as players. You look at all the best teams, the championships teams, those teams that won, what they had that separated themselves from other teams were players that have a tremendous character and who had a tremendous work ethic. These were players that were self-motivated. You didn't need someone pushing them along. They were motivated to be prepared.
Todd Haley has stressed the importance of the defense working as a team. One man out of position in football could ruin the play for you. That's why coaches and former players like Deron Cherry talk about the importance of working as a team.
"They were doing it because they knew their job was important to allow one of their teammates to be successful as well," he said.
"So when you have players that have tremendous character, you don't have to motivate them, they're hard workers, guys that are the first ones in the locker room and the last to leave, constantly studying film...when you have a system like that and players like that and they become leaders on your football team, anybody that comes in there, like rookies, who want to learn and be the best, you have players like that that are setting the example for your football team."