Some have wondered whether linebacker Dont'a Hightower will actually play in 2021, but listening to his position coach Jerod Mayo speak Thursday, it doesn't seem like he has any questions at all.
"I'll say this: Hightower's a true professional," he said, via video conference. "Obviously, opting out last year, hopefully we get the same Hightower we got in 2019, but we'll see. I will this about Hightower, I'm not worried about Hightower mentally. He's one of the smartest players that I've been around, had the pleasure to coach. He knows all the X's and O's. He'll probably be a coach one day, honestly. This guy, he's very smart. The one thing you've got to be concerned about with a guy like that, you know, you're coming off a year of not playing football. Training camp and this period right now, these are times right now where you really want to see them get back into football shape. Then in the summertime when we get back, get back into that football shape.
"But I'm excited to get him back in the building. He's always a pleasure to have in the room. Honestly, when you look across the defense and all the new guys that we have, just having his presence, having Devin McCourty's presence, that stuff is definitely going to trickle down to the rest of the group. Not only talking about trickling down to the rookies. I'm talking about trickling down to the new players, the new free agents, the big name free agents that come into this organization, just to really figure out how we handle business here. So it's always good to get him back."
As a whole, the defense took a step back a year ago and Mayo acknowledged not having Hightower was a reason why.
"I'll be honest, it was huge," Mayo said when asked about not having Hightower on the field. "It was kind of like -- and I'm not trying to toot my own horn here -- but it's like, the times that I wasn't hurt, I was kind of like a coach on the field. So having a guy like Hightower, at the end of the day, you can call the play, but as soon as you cross the white lines, those guys are in charge. Anytime you have a guy as smart as Hightower that's able to cross the white line, you feel comfortable, like this guy is going to make the right decision nine times out of 10.
"That's a very comforting feeling. I'm not saying that we didn't have that at times last year. But just getting it on a down-after-down basis is something we look forward to having this year."
