The Buffalo Bills will try to take down the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Sean McDermott thinks he can score a takedown on Dan Campbell.
McDermott was asked if any NFL coach besides Campbell could beat him in a wrestling match by Eric Wood on the Built In Buffalo podcast.
The Bills head coach didn’t grapple with the question. He’d win the coaching royal rumble.
“No. And Dan Campbell couldn’t, either,” McDermott said. “Let’s just set that straight right now.”
The Bills and Lions are in the same weight class as Super Bowl contenders, but Campbell’s football playing weight was nearly 100 pounds greater than McDermott’s.
Wood, who played his entire nine-year career at center with the Bills and is a team color commentator, said he knew phrasing the question with Campbell would tick off McDermott, and inquired about young coaches like former NFL players Jerod Mayo, 38, and DeMeco Ryans, 40.
McDermott shook his head.
“No,” McDermott said. “Listen, this would be like me saying to you as a center and a player that was extremely confident in his own abilities, ‘Hey, you’re going to go up against Aaron Donald.’ And I guarantee if I would’ve said that to you, you would’ve been like ‘So.’
“Same thing. Winners mentality. Until someone shows you that they’re better than you, you have to believe that you’re better than them.”
McDermott and Campbell are known for their relentless work ethic and blue-collar upbringings.
McDermott, who started wrestling at age 4, was a two-time National Prep School Champion and All-Catholic selection at 171 pounds at LaSalle College High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He went unbeaten in 75 consecutive matches and was named the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News Wrestler of the Year.
McDermott competed in the 1993 USA High School Wrestling Tournament, going 2-2 and facing the eventual national champion.
“My wrestling background, that’s been a big part of me and my life and growing up and really helped shape me into the person I am today,” McDermott said shortly after he was hired by the Bills in 2017. “There’s a lot of life lessons you learn through wrestling.”
McDermott has hosted Olympic gold medal wrestler Jordan Burroughs to speak to the Bills multiple times.
He’s kept in shape with mixed martial arts training and has a wrestling mat in his home.
Leg joints are not safe in a McDermott-Campbell main event. McDermott’s go-to takedown in high school was a low single takedown, meaning McDermott prefers applying pressure to kneecaps and Campbell famously bites and takes kneecaps.
