While he believes that could be a concern for some coaches, Patterson said he appreciates having players from different backgrounds and experiences in his position room. What he did need to determine, though, was just how important football was to Weatherly.

"If you're only playing football because it happens to be something that you're good at, not something that you love, then that's not a guy you want," Patterson said.

"He hadn't played defensive end in so long. So he had to work on changing his body again," Patterson added. "He had to work on changing his mentality. Would he put in the time and effort to get those things done? And he did."

Weatherly's drive and determination were never again questioned.

But even so, his first season didn't go quite the way he had hoped. The rookie spent most of the 2016 campaign on practice squad before being elevated to the 53-man roster in Week 11. He was inactive for all but two games, during which he contributed on special teams.

His own worst critic, Weatherly felt frustrated heading into his second year that things didn't click as quickly as he would have liked.

It was at that point, during the late spring and summer of 2017, that Weatherly went back to his first love: music.

While he had focused mainly on football at Vanderbilt, Weatherly still managed to squeeze in time to learn two more instruments: the steel drums and piano. It was the last instrument he took on that turned into his go-to.

"I had a piano … so after a long day and if I felt like I wasn't being as effective in practice, I would just go and play something I had learned in college, or I'd try to find new things online or on YouTube tutorials and just bury myself in that – get my head off of football for a while," Weatherly said. "Instead of beating myself up, I would [play the piano]. That actually helped tremendously, honestly – being able to take a step back, think about something else for a while. Reset, refocus and then attack the next day on the field.

"That ability to de-stress, I feel like that helped me to become a better football player," Weatherly added.

Weatherly went on to play 15 games in the 2017 season, during which Patterson saw his young student take great strides.

"He learned to just let it go," Patterson said. "At some point, you just have to learn to let it go and just go out there and trust yourself, believe that you've mastered the things you've been taught.

"[He was] trying to do it right. So you're thinking, 'My feet go here. My hands go here. My eyes go here.' Well, you're not going to look athletic," Patterson continued. "It takes a while for you to let that go and just trust yourself."

During the 2018 training camp, Patterson had another conversation with Weatherly to remind him: "Just. Let. It. Go. Just go out there and play. Be fast. Be physical."

And it worked. So far this season, Weatherly has started six of 10 games played and has 31 tackles (coaches' tally), 3.0 sacks, a pass broken up, six tackles for loss, 25 quarterback hurries (coaches' tally) and a forced fumble.

Weatherly said he's learned to rely on his natural instincts and make the necessary adjustments during a game rather than repeatedly perform the same move that worked in practice earlier that week but wasn't effective against the opponent.