The whole article is 5 sentences long.
The last is a quote from McVay: “Cam’s got a
natural charisma and a presence about him that people are drawn to and
when he’s got the right vibe and the right energy, that’s a real positive thing for our team.”
The writer's previous sentences say, based on this quote, thatCam is therefore "slated" for a leadership role. That's a stretch. What McVay says is that when Akers gets it right, it's a positive for the team. That doesn't imply, regardless how far you stretch it, that Akers is "slated for a leadership role."
McVay is doing one of the things he does well here - identifying and directing or redirecting one of Akers' positive traits in a way to reinforce the behavior. An alternative is to coddle and flatter Akers less - and watch the lid blow off.
A Narcissus is a delicate flower. It demands a lot of attention in order to bloom.
A common trait of Narcissus personalities is a certain kind of charismatic exhuberance, all smiles and all the right things said, the center-of-attention presence that is so characteristic of Akers. Another is the "I'll quit and stomp my feet in ways that are destructive to my critics if I don't get my way" behavior by which the Narcissistic person continues to demand both attention and power. Narcissistic persons are quite often intelligent and capable of high level individual performance - typically at expense to the group that empowers them and only for so long as If they get what they want.
I see Akers' "nice" face for now and saw his high level performance to close out last season. I see McVay's statement as an attempt to motivate, appease, and manage Cam all at once.
Narcissism is a tough personality disorder to outgrow. In its way it's succesful for the individual, who is happy for as long as it's working for him, and when it isn't, it's somebody else's fault.
If you're a NArcissus, why change?
Give in to a Narcissus and you'll see their over-the-top charismatic best for a while, and at the same time you've furether empowered their Narcissistic and ultimately destructive behavior - it'll be back, usually with worse consequences, when the bloom wears off.
While I hope Cam has had an epiphany and has outgrown these tendencies for his own sake and for the sake of the team, at this point I'm at a cautious and doubtful "show me" stage when it comes to Cam Akers. And that's a long way from "trust, but verify," much less "trust."
Which leads to these questions: Will our promising new running backs, Williams and Evans, get any carries beyond preseason? Will Cam give up even a few touches without becoming a drag on the team?
I don't think so. For now it seems he has a lock on the RB1 position by neurotic default.
Williams or Evans, maybe both, wiould have to show out with a monstrous preseason to budge the needle - at which point I'd expect Cam to grumble in the lockerroom or on the practice field, ask to be traded, or quit again as disruptively as possible, the victim of such unfairness from the team. False victimhood is a stock ploy, or weapon, for the Narcissus.
McVay is doing the best he possibly can to get the best out of Cam. If Cam has grown enough to truly become a "we not I" member of the team, fine. Press on. If Cam falters in any way that is detrimental to the team, I hope McVay has learned enough from the past to dump him on the spot.
