Ravens fans are eager to see Elvis Dumervil in purple and black. He’ll join a host of new faces on the defense, including Chris Canty, Michael Huff, Marcus Spears, and whoever the team adds via the draft later this month.
However, there have been a lot of questions about the leadership void in the Ravens locker room, now that Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are gone. Those questions only got louder as the team brought in troubled linebacker Rolando McClain earlier this week.
One of Dumervil’s former teammates, Von Miller, spoke highly of him as a leader on NFL Network.
“He was our leader in the locker room,” Miller said of Doom.
“He was our rock. He showed me how to be a technician on the field…He showed me so much stuff – how to be a professional, how to conduct myself off the field. He is truly going to be missed.”
In addition, Lardarius Webb believes that the current Ravens can make up for the loss of the two well-respected veterans Lewis and Reed, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
“Once he gets into our locker room and we lead by example and show him how we do things, it will be a great thing for him. He’s a young man and he has so far to grow.
“Not taking nothing away from Oakland, I know the organization we have and the people we have in our locker room, it’s going to be a great fit for him. We’re ready to get [McClain] in and show him what we do.”
“I’ve been here for four years with Ed, and we don’t even really talk football all the time,” Webb said. “Everything I could get from him, I’ve already got it. I looked. I paid attention. I watched him. I watched great leaders like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. They show you how to do it. I’m going to do all of my part to help this team win.”
That should be music to the ears of Baltimore fans, many of whom are skeptical that McClain can reinvent himself and be a productive member of the new Ravens defense.
Hopefully Webb and Dumervil (along with Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, and others) can help construct a new atmosphere in the Ravens’ locker room that is just as strong and successful as the one we’ve grown accustomed to.
