The transformation was apparent to those around him. Ray Rice, a second-year back who got the starting job in the offseason, said McGahee's new attitude has made the Ravens' running game better.
"He's definitely taken a different approach this year, and it's for the better," Rice said. "I just think there comes a time and point where it's going to be one way or the other. It's going to be the coach's way; it's never going to be how you want it. I think he became accustomed to how the coaches want it here, and now he's become a great teammate to all of us. That's how great teams pull along - you buy into one vision."
So far, McGahee has rushed for 123 yards, averaging 4.9 yards a carry, trailing Rice (144, 5.3) in both categories. But he's not complaining about the workload or his status.
"I'm past that," he said. "Like I said at the beginning of the year, it's not how you start, it's how you finish."
For all his problems in 2008, McGahee still had three 100-yard rushing games and ripped off a 77-yard touchdown run in Dallas to beat the Cowboys. Before he got hurt in the AFC championship game in Pittsburgh, he had rushed for 60 yards and scored twice.
While at the University of Miami, McGahee scored 31 touchdowns in 21 games and broke Edgerrin James' rushing records in 1998. That year, he scored 28 touchdowns.
"I just feel like he's getting back to that old Willis that he was," fullback Le'Ron McClain said. "I told him I've got his back 100 percent: 'Just follow me, man, I'm going to try to get you back to destiny.' "
What destiny awaits McGahee is uncertain.
When the Buffalo Bills traded him to Baltimore in 2007, he signed a seven-year contract worth $40.12 million. According to figures supplied by the NFL players' union, he is due to make $620,000 this season and then the contract jumps to $3.6 million in 2010, $6 million in 2011, $6.5 million in 2012 and $7.2 million in 2013.
It would seem McGahee is headed toward renegotiation in the not-too-distant future, or perhaps another team. McGahee said he hasn't studied the contract and expressed no concern about what he doesn't know.
"I know I got two or three more years left on it," he said. "I really don't look at it, I don't know how it works, to tell the truth. I do know the salary increases every year. ... I don't know how they're going to approach things or handle things."
Asked at a news conference Monday how he felt he had played in the young season, McGahee had this reply:
"I haven't had any negative things in the paper yet. So, actually, I'm pretty good."
BROWNS @RAVENS
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 13
Radio: 97.9 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 13 1/2
