Last season, the Miami Dolphins featured one of the NFL’s best defensive lines. Four-time Pro Bowler Ndamukong Suh was a force inside; Olivier Vernon was magnificent all-around; and Cameron Wake, despite missing more than half the season because of a torn Achilles, averaged a sack per game during the course of seven regular-season appearances.
Although Suh and Vernon consistently wreaked havoc, Miami’s D-line wouldn’t have finished among the league’s elite if not for the production of Wake’s replacement, Derrick Shelby.
With a contract months away from expiring, the 27-year-old made the most of his opportunity, using his uptick in snaps to set career-highs in sacks, hits, hurries, passes defended and stops.