This time a year ago Willie Young was coming off a career season marked by a team-best 10 sacks. But he was also coming off a season-ending achilles injury and into a defensive scheme unlike what he’d played previously in either Detroit or Chicago.
He played his way back into increasingly better health, and eventually finished the season with 6.5 sacks — second only to linebacker Lamarr Houston.
"Luckily, guys like Lamar and Willie kind of picked up and healed up as we went," head coach John Fox said during this year's owners meetings.
But Young also saw longtime defensive end Jared Allen traded away early in the season from an ill-fitting job at 3-4 outside linebacker to a 4-3 Carolina Panthers Super Bowl team.