For that, Del Rio owes a debt of gratitude to former Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, who played for Del Rio when he was the Ravens’ linebackers coach. Del Rio won a Super Bowl ring with that team.
“He said to me, and I thought it was a real compliment, ‘You keep it real,’” Del Rio remembered. “And I always felt like I could keep it real, because I have been in the trenches, I have had that helmet on, those pads on, I’ve been in the meetings. I understand what it’s like to get up and compete every day.…
“I’m not asking them to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself as a player.”
How many Super Bowl rings does Jack Del Rio have?
Jack Del Rio retired from playing in 1996 and went into coaching, serving in a variety of positions for several different NFL teams. In 2003 he was named head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, a position he held until November 29, 2011, after which he took the head coaching job with the Raiders in January 2015. Del Rio was fired in 2017 after three seasons with the team.
