The New England Patriots have lost a lot of excellent leaders in recent years with the departures and retirements of players such as Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Dont'a Hightower, Devin McCourty and others.
These players leaving opened up opportunities for others to fill that leadership void, and one guy who's done that is starting center David Andrews.
To be clear, Andrews has been a leader in New England for a long time, but his role in that facet of the game has increased even more this season. Not only is Andrews one of the Patriots' team captains, he is often the first player to meet with the media at the podium after games, and he does so in a very professional manner.
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Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about Andrews' leadership on Friday, and he gave the veteran offensive lineman a ton of praise.
"Fantastic. Fantastic. He's been, I mean, it’s been as good as I've seen, honestly," Belichick said at his press conference. "Every day, his performance on a daily basis is really exceptional. Attitude, effort, communication, energy, leadership of the younger players, leadership of his peers, communication, you name it.
"Look, like everybody who plays a lot of football, you get banged up, you're going to deal with some stuff during the year. He's shown a lot of physical toughness to play through that, a lot of mental toughness. He would never come out of practice for a play. We have to take him out to help manage some of the bumps and bruises that he has. But, this guy is a warrior."
Belichick doesn't give out this kind of praise often, so when he does, it's definitely noteworthy.
Andrews joined the Patriots as a rookie free agent in 2015 and has won two Super Bowl titles. He has been the team's starting center for the last eight years. He's also one of the team's most dependable and respected players.
The Patriots have struggled this season and will enter Sunday's game against the Broncos in Denver with the AFC's worst record at 3-11. But this team hasn't quit. They are still playing hard with a high compete level every week, and Andrews, as one of the captains, deserves a lot of credit for that.