When Bill O’Brien and his staff arrived in 2014, Whitney Mercilus had not had his breakout season yet.
That would come in 2015, according to Mercilus, when he had his first double-digit sack season (12) and career-high tackles for loss (14).
“We were pretty tough on Whitney when we first came here because we saw a lot of potential with the guy,” O’Brien said. “He took the hard coaching, he took it to heart, and now he’s obviously one of our best players. He affects the game, he’s a disruptive guy, he’s a guy that we move around quite a bit, and he’s done a nice job for us.