Darnell Mooney walked over to the iPad in the Atlanta Falcons locker room on a Friday afternoon last month. Zach Bryan's «Something in the Orange» was playing, a rare country music song blaring over the team's sound system.
Mooney, a wide receiver, didn't hit shuffle or change the Spotify app to another playlist. He turned the volume up. Cody Johnson's «Diamond in My Pocket» followed at the same decibel level.
Rap and hip-hop — with the occasional mix of rhythm and blues — are the most played genres in the Falcons locker room. Country is more common than rock and roll or pop, but still unusual.
Mooney doesn't discriminate when it comes to tunes. His versatility and ability to recognize the emotions of the locker room have earned him the unofficial title of the Falcons' best DJ, according to teammates.
«Honestly, I just go with whatever the energy is in the room,» Mooney said. «It could be Miley Cyrus. It could jump all over the place.»
There is a Mooney or several Mooneys on every NFL team, a player or players who attempt to motivate through song or help relax the room after a long, grueling week of practice.
NFL locker rooms are diverse dwellings, as are the musical selections in each facility. It's up to the designated DJ to gauge how his team is feeling at that moment and then either ride that wave or change things up. ESPN contacted players from 14 teams, and some have a DJ by committee; others have one by default. Some players take great pride in their skills with the proverbial aux cord. Others are fed up with the noise their teammates are generating, but they learn to accept it.
And it's not just teammates who pick the tunes. New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn submits a playlist for «Throwback Thursdays,» which is
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